The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has posted on its web site a draft list of essential community providers for 2018.

To qualify as essential community providers, organizations must serve predominantly low-income, medically underserved patients.  Qualified health plans must contract with at least 30 percent of the essential community providers in their markets and must offer contracts in good faith to at least one such provider in each of six categories, including federally qualified health centers, hospitals, and family planning providers.

Providers that believe they have mistakenly been excluded from the list may petition for inclusion.

Find the draft list here.