The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 14.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.

The CDC and Mask Guidance

The White House

COVID-19

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

COVID-19

  • CMS has released data highlighting the continued impact of the COVID-19 emergency on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries and their utilization of health care services.  The data show that from March through October 2020, beneficiaries skipped millions of primary, preventive, and mental health care visits due to COVID-19 in comparison to the same time period in 2019.  Although utilization rates for some treatments have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, mental health services show the slowest rebound.  Learn more from the following resources:

Health Policy News

  • CMS has issued guidance to states on how they can receive enhanced American Rescue Plan funding to increase access to home and community-based services (HCBS) for Medicaid beneficiaries.  This guidance seeks to assist states with leveraging federal resources to increase health equity in Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to HCBS, positive health outcomes, and community integration.  Those resources include a one-year increase of 10 percent in federal Medicaid matching money for such expenditures.  The guidance was issued to states through a CMS letter to state Medicaid directors.  Go here to see CMS’s announcement about the enhanced HCBS funding and go here to see the CMS letter to state Medicaid directors.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

COVID-19

FEMA