Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CMS: New Medicaid Managed Care Regulations On Track For January 2015 Release
Modern Healthcare: Coming Medicaid Plan Rules Will Set New Access Standards
CMS officials say they're on track for a January 2015 release of sweeping new Medicaid managed-care regulations intended to ensure that beneficiaries get timely access to care and better integration of services. HHS' inspector general's office, meanwhile, is preparing a follow-up to a September report that criticized the CMS and the states for not doing enough to make sure Medicaid plans offer adequate provider networks, according to CMS officials who addressed members of the Medicaid Health Plans of America at a conference Tuesday. (Dickson, 10/28)
CQ Healthbeat: Medicaid Officials Provide Extension Of Higher Matching Funds
Federal Medicaid officials will permanently pay 90 percent of the costs for technological upgrades to enrollment and eligibility systems, according to a letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday. The share of funding, which every state in the country has taken advantage of, had been expected to drop to 50 percent of states’ costs on Jan. 1, 2016. The money was available through a 2011 rule that also increased the federal matching rate for maintaining or operating the electronic enrollment and eligibility systems from 50 percent to 75 percent of costs. (Adams, 10/28)
