State Medicaid coverage policies for community-based palliative care: Lessons from NASHP’s State Institute

State Medicaid coverage policies for community-based palliative care: Lessons from NASHP’s State Institute 
National Academy for State Health Policy; by Ella Taggart, Wendy Fox-Grage; 8/11/25 
Six states recently participated in NASHP’s two-year State Policy Institute to Improve Care for People with Serious Illness (the Institute): Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. ... Specifically, the six participating states received guidance on policy mechanisms to cover palliative care services in the community and completed cost analysis on palliative care services for Medicaid beneficiaries. While all the states balanced the same forces and demands, ... each state modeled a benefit that was responsive to its particular needs and circumstances. ... CBIZ Optumas and TFA Analytics then designed a cost calculator for each state to help with different scenarios.