Building and Sustaining University-Medicaid Partnerships When State Governments Change

Abstract

Growing a successful and sustainable partnership between a public university and a state’s Medicaid-financed health and human service agency is an enviable goal. These types of partnerships were envisioned by the original drafters of the Medicaid law and supported by the regulations that have framed the program. However, any partnership that joins two complex and bureaucratic organizations relies upon the infrastructure created to support it and the resiliency of the people who make it work. This issue brief from Public University Medicaid Partnerships describes the challenges public universities and state Medicaid agencies face in creating partnerships, and discusses methods and recommendations to make it happen. The brief is authored by Marc A. Thibodeau, J.D., M.S., Executive Director, Center for Health Care Financing at UMass Medical School, and Jerry Friedman, J.D., Advisor for Health Policy and Associate Vice President for External Relations & Advocacy, The Ohio State University Medical Center.