Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Issues Public Comment on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Proposed Rule
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Today, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, MassHealth, provides access to vital health care services for approximately 1.8 million children and parents, individuals with disabilities, the elderly and other low income adults. It also sustains a robust system of safety net health care providers.
The proposed rule jeopardizes the continued success of the MassHealth program by unreasonably restricting the ways in which
The proposed rule would make a number of highly technical policy changes that could prohibit or limit ways that states finance their share of Medicaid expenditures or provide supplemental payments to providers. The proposed rule would also establish discretionary standards of review for states' Medicaid financing arrangements and supplemental payments that would create uncertainty about what is allowable. Adding to this uncertainty is the proposal that all existing provider tax waivers and supplemental payment arrangements be limited to a three-year duration, In states like
CMS acknowledges in the preamble to the proposed rule that "[t]he fiscal impact of the Medicaid program from the implementation of the policies in the proposed rule is unknown." Medicaid is too important a program for this drastic step into the unknown. In
MassHealth is a significant source of revenue for health care providers: Nursing homes and community health centers receive over half of total patient revenue from MassHealth./2
CMS should not up-end long standing financing mechanisms in common use in
For all these reasons, MLRI respectfully urges you to withdraw this proposed rule in its entirety.
Sincerely,
Senior Health Law Attorney
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Footnotes:
1/ Commonwealth Medicine, U. Mass.
2/ MassHealth the Basics, supra.
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The proposed rule can be viewed at: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2019-0169-0001
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