The Medicaid Black Book Review Methodology (Overview)
The Medicaid Black Book is an in-depth, qualitative review of vendors seeking to partner with payers in the Medicaid space.
Our review consists of 55 different analyses conducted by our team of industry researchers and analysts. These analyses span 5 domains we have found to be critical indicators of successful vendor partners in the Medicaid space:
- Leadership Medicaid Experience
- Brand Visibility and Reputation
- Clarity of the Value Proposition
- Scalability
- Funding Model
What do the ratings mean?
Medicaid Black Book ratings are used by subscribers in different ways, and it is up to each subscriber how they choose to incorporate ratings in their overall decision making. We do offer initial guidance on how to use the ratings, as shown in the chart below:
How are the vendor scores calculated?
Our team of researchers conduct extensive reviews of each company using our 55-point algorithm that considers 5 major domains.
How do these reviews compare to other reviews?
Our reviews are completely independent. Other companies accept payments from the vendors being reviewed in order to take them through the evaluation process.
Can a company pay to be in the Medicaid Black Book?
No
What is included in the analysis?
While much of the review process is proprietary, there is much we can share. For example, the domains are weighted differently in the overall assessment.
As you can see in the chart of domains, we feel that the Medicaid experience of the leadership team is paramount in predicting how effective a vendor partner will be. Most health plans and state clients tell us that vendors without meaningful Medicaid experience add additional time and cost to the relationship for 2 main reasons: 1) they have to be trained on Medicaid by you and your staff; and 2) they overstate their experience during the sales process which masks risks and costs.
Note: While funding model is included in the 55 point algorithm research, it is not scored.
What is the source of data used for the analyses?
Our teams use a wide range of data sources as well as direct interviews.
Can reviewed companies provide context to the analyses?
All companies reviewed in Medicaid Black Book are given an opportunity to conduct an in depth interview with our team. For those that do, an additional 25 points are awarded for transparency.
Can reviewed companies sponsor or in any way influence reviews in the Medicaid Black Book?
No. Medicaid Black Book is sold strictly as a subscription service and entries can not be sponsored. Reviewed companies are not made aware of results during the optional interview. They are also not given results outside of purchasing their own subscription.
Can Mostly Medicaid consulting clients be reviewed in the Medicaid Black Book?
Yes. When they are reviewed, we conduct the analysis in draft form and allow them the choice of whether to publish the results. We do not in any way alter the results if they choose to publish them. Any Mostly Medicaid consulting client reviewed in the Medicaid Black Book is clearly labeled as a client to maintain integrity and transparency of the review process.
Can you provide examples of the types of analyses conducted?
Yes. In addition to in-depth review the leadership experience in healthcare, Medicare and Medicaid, our analysts conduct research to answer questions like there:
- Have there been any Medicaid-specific thought leader publications from the leadership team in the past 3 years?
- Has anyone on the leadership team spoken as an expert at a Medicaid conference in the past 3 years?
- What is the overall impression of the company in the market?
- What are the weaknesses of the company as perceived in the market?
- What are the strengths of the company as perceived in the market?
- Are there any negative press items in the past 3 years for the company?
- What do Glassdoor reviews suggest about company culture?
- Are there any discoverable legal battles or contract disputes?
- What level of brand visibility does the company currently have?
- What solutions are offered? (are they unique? hard for a plan to do on their own?)
- Who else offers similar solutions?
- What press releases has the company provided in the past 6 months?
- Is it clear the business problems the solutions offered attempt to solve?
- Is it clear the way success of solutions is measured? Are the outcomes specific and unique (not just reduce ED, etc)
- Does the company use buzzwords or otherwise non-unique language in materials?
- Are solutions clearly tailored to Medicaid plans or do they seem to retro-fitted from other verticals?
- Is it clear who benefits the most from the solution?
- Does the company show how the plan can connect solution costs to member outcomes?
- How many employees do they have?
- What is the biggest project they have had?
- What is their current client base?
- What is the experience of their mid-level operations team?
- What is the experience of their mid-level product team?
- What strategic partners do they have that can help them scale?
- What has been their recent organizational growth path?
- What is their annual revenue?
- What type of ownership model?
- If private, what stage are they in?
- What is the trend in investment rounds?
- Who are the major investors?
- What other healthcare investments does the owning firm have? (are there other firms in the fund that can bring additional help?)
You must be logged in as a subscriber to request a vendor to be reviewed.
We track multiple topics important to investors active in the Health and Human Services Space, including:
- Overall deal activity
- Deal activity by major segments, including:
- Health plans
- Providers
- Solution vendors
- Investor profiles
- Trends in investment theses
We track multiple financial indicators for each of the national Medicaid managed care organizations, including:
- Quarterly revenue and earnings reports
- Insights from shareholder calls
- Hiring trends
- Innovation investments
- Medicaid enrollment changes
- Market response (share price)
- Analyst recommendations
We conduct ongoing surveys of HHS investor and Medicaid/Medicare priorities. If you would like to participate in these surveys, please reach out using the form below.
Each update includes an exclusive interview from a Medicaid managed care executive and an investment leader.
The Medicaid Black Book is the premier market intelligence product for health plan and investment professionals in the Medicaid and Health and Human Services space.
Most of our investor subscribers tell us The Medicaid Black Book helps them with these 3 things:
- Additional (or initial) vetting of targets they are considering - our reviews are conducted by HHS industry experts who bring a level of knowledge about the vertical that often will evaluate a target differently than the more general reviews
- The big picture of key dynamics in the Medicaid / HHS vertical - most investors don't have the time to focus on building subject matter expertise in the HHS vertical. They are usually busy assisting portfolio companies or working current deals. Our analyses of key market trends provide a robust way to stay on top of issues in the space quickly.
- Learning from other investors in the space- The exclusive interviews with investment leaders offer tips and advice to subscribers who are interested in the Medicaid space.
Our Medicaid managed care plan subscribers tell us they use the Medicaid Black Book in 2 main ways:
- To vet vendors who are asking for their time- Medicaid health plan staff are constantly asked to take vendor sales calls and meetings. The time-drain on a health plan for these requests is substantial. Our health plan clients use the Medicaid Black Book to prioritize which meetings are worth the investment of staff hours to consider a new partner.
- To stay on top of key issues in the Medicaid space- Most health plan leaders have their plate full dealing with day to operational issues of running a health plan. The strategic content included in The Medicaid Black Book allows health plan leaders to stay on top of key issues facing Medicaid plans nationwide.
Most of our solution provider clients (technology firms, specialized consulting firms or specialized provider groups) tell us they get value from the Medicaid Black Book in 2 main ways:
- Competitive intelligence- Our extensive vendor evaluations provide critical market intelligence about your competitors, all framed in a way that is consistent with how your prospects (Medicaid health plans and HHS agencies) view vendors.
- Learning to think like a Medicaid managed care executive- One of the hardest things solution providers face is the learning curve related to what matters to a Medicaid managed care plan decision maker. Its very different from the way a commercial or Medicare Advantage plan decision maker thinks. Our exclusive interviews with Managed care executives always offer tips to vendors on how to engage effectively with decision makers.
Here is some recent feedback from our subscribers:
“The Medicaid Black Book helps us to identify innovations and market changes in a timely manner, allowing us to “course correct” as needed.”
John, CEO of a Medicaid Managed Care plan
“We love Medicaid Blackbook because it provides a credible, unbiased, and fact-based assessment of our work on which potential clients can rely when deciding whether to take a meeting with us or consider using one of our solutions.”
Chris- CEO and Founder of a case management solution firm
“We use Medicaid Blackbook to validate some our hypotheses about MCO priorities so that we can more rapidly respond to their changing needs than we would otherwise be able. They spot trends faster and more accurately than other sources.”
Jason- CEO of an HHS solution provider organization
"We love the concept of Medicaid Blackbook because it offers an eagle eye view of various vendors in the industry with ratings as to their performance. It helps with evaluation of helpful tools and is a one stop shop.
The Mostly Medicaid team has spent years developing and analyzing various players in the industry and their comparisons, opinions and insights haven’t gone unnoticed and are well executed."
Amanda, CEO large provider network management firm
Check out the live version of Black Book
Check out the Vendor Evaluations DB to see all the current companies. Check out the live version of Black Book
Add the Medicaid Black Book to your cart and complete checking using our secure checkout process. You will be immediately granted access upon purchase.
If you need to pay by invoice, please use the form below or give us a call directly @334-220-7834
Each subscription includes up to 5 licenses within your organization. Once you subscribe, our team will reach out to set up the initial licenses for your team. Additional seats are available for a fee.