Just two years after a major overhaul of Medicaid managed care regulations, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is again proposing changes in how the federal government regulates the delivery of managed care services to Medicaid beneficiaries.
Under the newly proposed regulation, states would:
- be free to implement more changes in their managed care programs without seeking federal permission;
- have slightly more flexibility in how supplemental payments are made to hospitals through managed care plans and implement some such changes without federal approval;
- be permitted to redefine what constitutes an adequate provider network for managed care plans; and
- not be required to publicize beneficiary grievance and appeals processes as prominently as they currently do.
Overall, the proposed regulation appears to help managed care insurers a great deal, states a little, and hospitals barely at all. It also could have serious implications for private safety-net hospitals, most of which are located in states that employ managed care in their Medicaid programs.
Stakeholders have until January 14 to submit formal comments about the proposal to CMS.
To learn more about the proposed Medicaid managed care regulation, go here to see CMS’s news release presenting the regulation, go here to see a more detailed CMS fact sheet, and go here to see the proposed regulation itself.
