Summary of Factors Influencing Adolescent Well-Care Performance in Top-Performing State Medicaid Programs

State Medicaid programs can have a key role in assuring receipt of an annual well visit among adolescent enrollees, consistent with the Bright Futures guidelines.  In a new report, the AYAH-NRC examines factors linked to high well visit rates in top-performing states.

This effort was led by AYAH-NRC partners Annie Schmidt, MPH and Peggy McManus, MHS of the National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health, who conducted key informant interviews with Medicaid officials from the six states with the highest rates: RI, CT, TX, NY, NH, and MA.

Medicaid officials identified the following factors as the most important in contributing to successful performance:

1. Alignment of payment incentives with adolescent preventive care performance.
2. State Medicaid/EPSDT policies that align with Bright Futures initiatives.
3. State public health performance goals on adolescent well-care.
4. Quality or performance improvement initiatives pertaining to adolescent preventive care and use of standardized quality performance measures across payers.

Download the report for full details on how these findings may best assist future policy and research initiatives.