Safety Net Providers

A 2011 Commonwealth Fund poll found that 98 percent of responding national health care opinion leaders believe that traditional safety net providers will still fulfill critical roles after implementation of the ACA. With the support of The Commonwealth Fund, NASHP formed the National Workgroup on Integrating a Safety Net into Health Care Reform Implementation to inform national and state policy development in addressing the roles of safety net providers in implementation of the ACA. This brief describes 10 overarching issues that the National Workgroup identified as ones that policymakers concerned with the safety net will need to consider in order to achieve health care reform goals, particularly for vulnerable populations.