Below are the competencies we feel are most valuable for performing a Medicaid state engagement. Your team may have some (or all, or more!) of these represented! Adapt your strategy to what’s best suited for your team’s strengths.
Our team approaches each engagement with the understanding that we are NOT the experts on these systems, processes, or programs. We let the state partners lead the engagement and define the goals. We listen with a critical (and sometimes skeptical!) ear, but we trust our partners.
Above all, we keep our focus on who we’re serving: the state Medicaid agency, and the beneficiaries of the Medicaid programs. We seek to understand their challenges, and collaboratively alleviate burdens.
State engagements are, admittedly, a bit chaotic. Pivots are required, sometimes late in the engagement. Some priorities are always sacrificed for others. It’s important to keep an attitude of flexibility throughout the entirety of an engagement, and understand that more information always contains more opportunity.
We perform research at a high professional standard. We bring human centered practices to any and all activities involving any member of the public. Any research activity is approached with an open, exploratory mindset, and free of preconceived notions or conclusions. When presenting results to stakeholders, we rely as much as possible on direct testimony gathered directly from real people, and tell a narrative that reflects the most accurate portrayal possible.
Our recommendations and decisions rest solidly on the best data we have access to. We rely on both qualitative and quantitative measures to defined the path forward, and we use it to defend our conclusions whenever possible. When what we have is imprecise, this is called out explicitly.
Every member of the team is an expert in delivery of high-quality services. In analyzing processes, we bring a critical eye to areas that may have the potential for improvement. We challenge long-standing traditions that persist without adequate reasoning, and offer alternatives whenever the opportunity arises.
We speak the languages of both technology and policy. Although we are NOT compliance-driven, the understanding of the program from the regulatory and compliance aspect is critical, as it provides the safety for states to innovate. When moving back and forth between decision makers and implementation experts, we understand both the reasoning behind a policy decision and the best way to implement it.