To control Medicaid budgets but also increase low-income families' access to quality primary health care, sufficient momentum has gathered in many states over the last several decades

…to move the focus of medical care from the emergency rooms and clinics of neighborhood hospitals to alternative delivery sites, specifically to conveniently located community clinics (linked to backup hospitals) and expanded health maintenance organizations... 1

As a result, and as the rationale behind states' commitment to Medicaid managed care, many states

...have bolstered their efforts to successfully and effectively enroll a substantial proportion of the Medicaid-eligible population in HMOs as a means of controlling the steeply rising expenditures and improving the equality of care they receive. 2

To facilitate the change to this model of managed care, many states have launched enrollment brokering initiatives to ensure the success of the transition away from fee-for-service Medicaid or the PCCM approach. Serving as the link between the managed care delivery system and Medicaid consumers, the enrollment broker (normally chosen as the result of a competitive bid process) provides outreach, enrollment and education services from a single, unbiased source to Medicaid consumers about the available participating Medicaid HMOs in their area.