Association for Community Affiliated Plans

Association for Community Affiliated Plans
Abbreviation ACAP
Formation 2000 (2000)
Type Trade association
Purpose To represent and strengthen not-for-profit, safety net health plans as they work with providers and caregivers in their communities to improve the health and well being of vulnerable populations in a cost-effective manner
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Region served
 United States
CEO
 Margaret Murray (2001)
Website www.communityplans.net

The Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) is a national trade association representing 57 Medicaid-focused health plans in 24 states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., ACAP advocates on behalf of its community-affiliated member health plans operating throughout the United States. ACAP's advocacy work focuses on representing publicly sponsored programs and health care providers who serve vulnerable populations. ACAP also promotes universal access to quality and cost-efficient care.

ACAP members are nonprofit plans that serve public insurance programs and the safety net. Collectively, ACAP plans serve more than ten million enrollees, which is over 50 percent of individuals enrolled in Medicaid-focused health plans.[1]

History

In the 1980s, as Medicaid managed care expanded across the county, safety net providers, such as Community Health Centers (CHCs) and public hospitals, feared that managed care would reduce reimbursements for Medicaid-eligible services, making it more difficult for them to provide care to the un- and under-insured, and result in a loss of Medicaid volume, as beneficiaries would choose to see other providers once given a choice.

In response to these concerns, community health centers in at least 16 states banded together to establish their own managed care organizations. Often CHCs were the only sponsors, but in other cases, they joined with hospitals or other safety net providers to sponsor a health plan. These organizations were established to support both the financial viability of the CHCs and other sponsors, as well as to support the mission of care for the underserved.

In 2000, seventeen CHC-affiliated plans came together with the help of the US Health Resources and Services Administration to form the Association for Health Center Affiliated Health Plans (AHCAHP). In May 2001, the Board hired Meg Murray as its Executive Director. Later that year, the AHCAHP Board met in Portland, Oregon to develop a strategic plan to guide the work of the association over the next two years. AHCAHP’s vision, as developed during that meeting, was to improve the health of medically underserved populations through the development, survival, promotion and growth of CHC-affiliated health plans.

In October 2003, the Board agreed to expand full membership to like-minded, community-affiliated health plans that served a majority of members from public insurance programs and shared the same outlook as the existing AHCAHP plans. The name change to the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) reflected the new mission and membership.

In 2007, ACAP worked with its member plans to expand their mission to include work on Medicare Special Needs Plans (SNPs.)

ACAP members

Notes

  1. ↑ "ACAP Represents 58 Safety Net Health Plans in 24 States". communityplans.net. Retrieved June 11, 2014.

References

External links

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