The Department of Vermont Health Access is creating a new advisory committee to advise the state on Medicaid programs and policies. The department held a virtual Town Hall on Wednesday to explain the plan.
Vermont is seeking current and former Medicaid recipients, their families or caregivers to join its new Beneficiary Advisory Committee, which will advise the state’s Medicaid agency.
Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council Executive Director Kirsten Murphy explained every state is setting up similar panels following new rules issued in April of 2024 by the federal Medicaid office.
“Really what the federal government was trying to do with these rules is to help every state have a standard of care around especially home and community based services and that we’re going to be able to improve the ways people could actually access the services. Even though the state has a Medicaid program there might be barriers to access. This new advisory body, which is just a space for people who have currently or have in the past received Medicaid, can use their lived experience to talk about those kinds of barriers and ways that access need to be improved,” Murphy explained.
Murphy, who is also co-chair of Vermont’s Medicaid and Exchange Advisory Committee, emphasized that they want people who have experience using the state’s Medicaid system.
“You are already an expert in what it’s like to manage the Medicaid program for you or your family member or for somebody that you take care of. I run the Developmental Disabilities Council and we have a federal requirement, our charge, is to make sure that the voice of people who have lived experience are able to be part of the policy making process," Murphy said. "So I personally am very committed to assisting in any way that I can to make this particular committee, which I think is a real innovation on the part of the federal Medicaid folks, as successful as possible.”
The virtual meeting was intended to provide information and answer questions about how to apply and what to expect. Department of Vermont Health Access Director of Customer Communications Zack Goss said members will be chosen by early July.
“The Medicaid director and Commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access appoints members to this committee. So there’s an application process and then once the application is approved by the department they can be appointed, Goss explained. "The first meeting will occur in the late summer or early fall. That date will be determined and obviously the time and date of the specific meeting will be flexible to accommodate the members who are participating in the committee.”
Murphy said the idea of a creating state advisory committees germinated during the Biden Administration.
“There was a real feeling that if we were going to improve people’s access to the services that Medicaid was created to provide, remember that’s a menu of services that’s pretty unique, it’s not just health insurance, that we would have to have a stronger voice for beneficiaries to guide how that program got run at the state level," Murphy said. "And in the current climate Medicaid might face some resource limitations or it might change in some way. Even more important now that we have people who are receiving Medicaid or who have received Medicaid or taken care of a family member be at the table while Vermont tries to navigate any of those changes.”
Vermont’s Beneficiary Advisory Committee must have a minimum of six members who meet at least four times a year. Six members will also serve on the Medicaid and Exchange Advisory Committee.
