“There are significant methodological issues with the underlying data, including completeness, timeliness, and quality,” the association said in a statement. It noted that most of the data come from 2015.
As expected, the data showed great variation in how states provide care, including immunizing teenagers and getting dental care to children. A big reason is that state Medicaid benefits and payments to doctors vary dramatically, the Medicaid directors said, so that “it will not be possible to make apples-to-apples comparisons between states.”
In her first public speech, Ms. Verma promised last November to release a Medicaid scorecard. She said states won’t immediately face any consequences for poor performance – but that could change.
“The data … begins to offer taxpayers insights into how their dollars are being spent and the impact those dollars have on health outcomes,” Ms. Verma said on June 4.