In its eagerness to help states introduce changes in their Medicaid programs and reduce administrative burdens, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is ignoring regulatory requirements designed to understand and measure the impact of those changes on beneficiaries.

According to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times, many states seeking to implement Medicaid work requirements have not projected how many of their beneficiaries would be affected by those requirements nor have they projected how many beneficiaries who are removed from the Medicaid rolls will gain employment after losing their Medicaid benefits.  Both projections are required under Medicaid regulations adopted in 2012, which call for states to assess the anticipated impact of proposed policy changes when seeking federal permission to implement such changes.

Similarly, many states have not proposed commissioning independent assessments to determine the impact of the Medicaid changes they have implemented with CMS’s approval – another requirement under 2012 regulations.

When pressed to explain its failure to enforce these regulations, according to the Times, CMS said only that regulations “…do not require that states provide precise numerical estimates of coverage impacts…” and that it is developing strategies for states to evaluate the impact of new work requirements.  The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about Medicaid disenrollment in states with new work requirements but after three months, Secretary Azar has not responded to MACPAC’s inquiry.

Medicaid disenrollment is a particular challenge for private safety-net hospitals because they serve more Medicaid patients than most hospitals and patients who lose their Medicaid coverage and need hospital care typically cannot afford to pay for that care, leaving such hospitals with growing amounts of uncompensated care.

Learn more about the process for reviewing state requests to implement Medicaid work requirements and CMS’s enforcement of regulations governing its approval of such requirements in the Los Angeles Times article “In rush to revamp Medicaid, Trump officials bend rules that protect patients.”