Posted by Michael Wonder on 22 Aug 2018
CMS releases formal approach to ensure Medicaid demonstrations remain budget neutral
22 August 2018 - Agency reinforces commitment to transparency and controlling costs; provides new tool.
Today, CMS released a letter to State Medicaid Directors that clearly describes CMS’s current approach to calculating budget neutrality expenditure limits for Medicaid section 1115 demonstration projects. Medicaid demonstration projects allow states to design innovative ways to better serve the nation’s more than 65 million Medicaid recipients.
In response to longstanding concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office, this letter marks the first time that CMS has formally outlined how states must calculate budget neutrality for demonstration projects, in order to strengthen fiscal accountability. The guidance also comes a day after Administrator Seema Verma testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Accountability Committee on improper payments in the Medicaid program, which often result in higher federal spending.
