Staffing shortages will continue to challenge massive unwinding processes for Medicaid

When U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra gives the green light to start unwinding, the states will be in charge of the “single largest health coverage transition event since the first open enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act”, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) states.

One of the many challenges they face, however is high vacancy rates. Data from NAMD’s recent Insight Survey found that the average vacancy rate in FY2022 for Medicaid agencies was 17 percent. One in four Medicaid agencies have a vacancy rate that is over 20 percent – in some cases in the 30 percent or even 40 percent range.

You can read more in our blog here.

You can also read more about Medicaid programs unwinding in a Vox article citing this statistic here as well as a HealthPayer Intelligence article here.