Section 1115 research and demonstration waivers allow states to test innovations not permitted under traditional Medicaid. Section 1115 programs are subject to evaluation to determine how these new approaches are being used to inform policy. A February 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that examined the Section 1115 demonstration evaluations found they often had significant limitations that affected their usefulness in informing policy decisions and called for changes to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) evaluation policies and procedures.
MACPAC asked Susan Barnidge, assistant director of GAO’s health care division, to share GAO’s findings and Judith Cash, director of CMS’s State Demonstrations Group to respond to the report and describe the steps CMS is taking to improve the Section 1115 waiver evaluation process. This slide set contains their presentations to the Commission.