Assessing Disparities in Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

In recent years, expansion of home and community-based services (HCBS) for older adults and persons with disabilities has become a national priority in the U.S. In addition, lawmakers and health-care providers are pursuing opportunities to minimize disparities in healthcare service delivery. Marrying these priorities will require policymakers to identify existing Medicaid HCBS disparities toward development of new, more equitable policies. This study provides a systematic literature review using an adapted theoretical framework to describe disparities in Medicaid HCBS. Key findings are organized into four domains: availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability. We found a lack of concerted research effort targeting Medicaid HCBS disparities in the context of all four domains, with an especially notable dearth of content related to acceptability. We also identified very few articles that focused on specific marginalized groups, suggesting a need for more research into whether Medicaid HCBS are available, accessible, accommodating, and acceptable for a variety of diverse populations. Our findings underscore the need for researchers and policymakers to conceptualize and evaluate existing Medicaid HCBS policy toward development of a more equitable Medicaid HCBS program design in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Medicaid
• Home- and Community-Based services
• disparities
• systematic review

Key points

• As of 2021, lawmakers aim to expand Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services.

• State variation in Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services creates disparities.

• Disparities in Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services are under-researched.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research effort was not funded through any outside entity or external grant.