Medicaid Medical Directors Network (MMDN)

The National Medicaid Medical Directors Network (MMDN) works to advance the health of Medicaid beneficiaries across the country by providing a nexus for senior clinical leaders in Medicaid across the 50 US states and 6 territories to discuss their most pressing needs and share best practices. The MMDN conducts multistate projects on pressing topics, builds on research and quality improvement efforts, hosts yearly convenings, and leverages collective experience to support and advance both state and national work.

Medicaid Medical Directors (MMDs) serve as senior clinical leaders for Medicaid programs across the US. MMDs come from a variety of clinical backgrounds across primary care and sub-specialties but they commonly bring the perspective of the patient experience to their work. MMDs apply their clinical knowledge and experience to Medicaid policy development, innovation, implementation, and analysis. They help to articulate the clinical vision of Medicaid programs and provide clinical subject matter expertise for contract management, utilization review, quality improvement, formulary development, among other programs. They approach their role from not only a clinical lens, but one of the scientific method, evidence, and peer-review.

As the professional home of the MMDN, AcademyHealth maintains a strategic partnership and the infrastructure for the MMDN to collaborate and thrive. With support from various funders and partners including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the MMDN synthesizes and disseminates policy relevant findings to policymakers who tend to need information quickly. From time to time, the Medicaid Medical Directors may elect to advocate for policies or interventions based on their unique expertise and values. These policy positions and statements reflect the positions of the Medicaid Medical Directors themselves, and do not necessarily represent the policy, views, or advocacy priorities of AcademyHealth, the Network’s funders, or its partners.

The MMDN exists to both enrich and broaden the work of MMDs across the country, and also to share their common experience to other stakeholders in the healthcare space.

AcademyHealth’s Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute engages the MMDN for the following projects:

The Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN):

AcademyHealth’s Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) is a collaborative effort to analyze data across multiple states to facilitate learning among Medicaid agencies. Participants from AcademyHealth’s State-University Partnership Learning Network (SUPLN) and the Medicaid Medical Director Network (MMDN) developed MODRN to allow states to participate in valuable and timely, multi-state data analyses while retaining their own data and analytic capacity.

Project ACCELERATE (Advancing Care Coordination through Evidence; Leveraging Existing Relationships Around Transforming PracticE):

With a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Eugene Washington Engagement Award, the Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute will bring together stakeholders to distill the latest PCORI-supported findings and identify strategies for dissemination to improve care coordination for children with special health care needs.

Immunization Barriers in the United States: Targeting Medicaid Partnerships through Community of Practice:

AcademyHealth's Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute and the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) with technical assistance support from Immunize Colorado are working with state health officials to increase immunization rates through the collaborative use of state agency resources.

Medicaid and CHIP Quality eXchange (MAC QX):

In collaboration with Mathematica, AcademyHealth’s Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute convenes the Medicaid Medical Director Network and the Medicaid and CHIP Quality eXchange to promote quality measurement and improvement in Medicaid and CHIP.

Analyzing Sexually Transmitted Disease Testing in Medicaid Populations:

With support from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation, AcademyHealth’s Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute in collaboration with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill assesses syphilis testing among pregnant Medicaid beneficiaries as well as rates of STI testing of state Medicaid beneficiaries on PrEP.