Texas 1115 Medicaid Transformation Waiver

In December 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved the State of Texas Medicaid Transformation Waiver under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act. This five-year demonstration Waiver is designed to build on existing reforms to health care and improve upon the delivery of health care throughout the state. The 1115 Medicaid Transformation Waiver program will enable Texas to expand Medicaid managed-care programs across the state, preserve hospital funding by assisting providers with health care costs that are currently uncompensated, and provide an incentive payment pool for the redesign and implementation of performance improvements in health care delivery systems.

Coordination and implementation of the waiver initiatives is done through the creation of Regional Health Partnerships (RHPs) across the state. Each RHP covers a multi-county region with one participating entity named as anchor. The anchor serves as the primary point of contact for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and coordinates the activities of the regional stakeholders. The Texas A&M University Health Science Center has been designated as the anchor for two regional health care partnerships: RHP 8, anchored from our Round Rock, Texas, campus, and RHP 17 from the main campus.