Series on HHS Strategic Plan: Goal 1—Protect and Strengthen Equitable Access to High Quality and Affordable Healthcare

HHS works to protect and strengthen equitable access to high quality and affordable healthcare. Increasing choice, affordability, and enrollment in high-quality healthcare coverage is a focus of the Department’s efforts in addition to reducing costs, improving quality of healthcare services, and ensuring access to safe medical devices and drugs.

Objective 1.1—Increase choice, affordability, and enrollment in high-quality healthcare coverage

Of the objectives of goal 1, Strategic Objective 1.1 is the most focused on communication.

Strategies

Two strategies outlined to achieve Objective 1.1 closely center on providing easily understood and accessible information, with specific emphasis on improving health outcomes in all communities, including underserved ones.

• Enhance outreach efforts to inform eligible individuals about affordable healthcare insurance options and related cost-saving opportunities. Additionally, there is a focus on improving the continuation of coverage and the process for transitions across Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare, and Marketplace plans.

• Empower consumers by providing choices for high-quality healthcare coverage. This necessitates improving the transparency of available health coverage options, facilitating a better understanding of eligibility, enhancing screening processes, and promoting health insurance literacy to increase enrollment and coverage among underserved populations.

Objective 1.5: Bolster the health workforce to ensure delivery of quality services and care

This objective aligns with TAS’s mission to expand the agencies’ workforces, supporting quality services.

Strategies

The strategies outlined for Objective 1.5 focus on tools and resources to support agency workforces.

• Develop and disseminate resources for health workforce to access evidence-informed best practices.

• Support meetings to enhance the understanding of best practices for improved quality of care and outcomes.

• Engage in multilateral and bilateral efforts, providing policy leadership and technical expertise to protect and invest in the global health workforce.

• Partner with states to create an access strategy ensuring sufficient high-quality providers for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries.

• Strengthen the capacity of community health workers (CHWs), community health aid programs (CHAPs), and community health representatives (CHRs).

• Collaborate with healthcare organizations, community partners, and stakeholders to enhance training.

Implications for State and County HHS Departments

The need for increased access to information regarding eligibility and consumer choice requires the acknowledgement of workforce restraints due to high turnover and vacancies in current positions. This necessitates prioritizing the current workforce efforts on non-routine questions and answers, instead, using technology to meet community needs. Diversifying worker skills and tasks would allow them to focus on other aspects of the HHS Strategic Plan.