Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation

MFAR is Dead

At least for now. The controversial Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation, slated for implementation this fall over the objections of many health care stakeholders, will not move forward at this time. In a tweet earlier this week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma wrote that We've listened closely to concerns that have been raised by our state and provider partners about potential unintended consequences of the proposed rule, which require further study. Therefore, CMS is withdrawing the rule from the regulatory agenda. If implemented, opponents maintained, the regulation would have: Deprived states of important, established policy-making prerogatives. Created [...]

iqtsupport2020-09-16T06:00:25-04:00September 16, 2020|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

MFAR Backlash Continues

Diverse health care and government interests are rallying around their opposition to the proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability rule. The regulation, proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in November, would impose new limits on the ability of states to finance their share of their Medicaid spending, potentially jeopardizing provider payments and the ability of high-volume Medicaid providers to operate without suffering great losses. In all, CMS received more than 4200 written comments in response to the proposed regulation, most of them expressing opposition. Among those doing so were state governments, the National Governors Association, hospitals and hospital associations, [...]

iqtsupport2020-03-02T06:00:22-05:00March 2, 2020|Medicaid, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid regulations|

Fitch: Medicaid Block Grants, MFAR Threaten States, Providers

Medicaid block grants and the proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation (MFAR) pose new financial threats to providers and states, according to Fitch Ratings, the financial rating company. MFAR poses the greater threat, Fitch believes, noting in a new analysis that it could …reduce total Medicaid spending nationally by $37 billion and $44 billion annually…and by $23 billion to $30 billion for hospitals alone. States, and to some extent providers, would respond to MFAR’s implementation with measures to mitigate the negative fiscal implications. Block grants, through what has been named the Healthy Adult Opportunity program, also pose a threat, with Fitch [...]

iqtsupport2020-02-18T13:28:21-05:00February 18, 2020|hospitals, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Health Care Groups Rebel Against Proposed Federal Regulation, Program

The administration’s proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation and its guidance encouraging states to implement Medicaid block grants have incurred widespread opposition among a variety of health care groups. The Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation would, if adopted, impose new restrictions on how states raise their share of their Medicaid spending, potentially limiting state participation in Medicaid or necessitating tax increases to fill the funding gap if long-accepted financing tools are no longer available to them. The Medicaid block grant guidance offers states a blueprint for curtailing their Medicaid costs by imposing limits on that spending that they negotiate with the federal [...]

iqtsupport2020-02-07T06:00:27-05:00February 7, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, DeBrunner & Associates, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|