Public Health Emergency Ending - Medicaid Resources
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
(1 Comments)
Posted by: Valerie Arendt
End of Public Health Emergency - Big Changes coming to
Medicaid and Disability Services
The Biden
administration announced last week that the COVID-19 public health
emergency, which has been in place since January 2020, is set to end on May 11.
Under the public
health emergency, which has been in place since 2020, states have been eligible
for extra federal funding for Medicaid in exchange for agreeing not to drop
most beneficiaries from the program. The federal government has also given home
and community-based services providers added flexibilities as they work to
maintain staffing.
The change will
trigger a massive effort by Medicaid programs nationwide, including North
Carolina, to re-evaluate each beneficiary to determine whether or not they
remain eligible. That has advocates worried that some people with developmental
disabilities could be inadvertently dropped from the program even if they still
qualify. Here is more information from NC Medicaid: https://medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/End-of-PHE NASW Resource: Planning for Medicaid Unwinding in 2023
During the Public Health Emergency (PHE) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented continuous coverage requirements and additional flexibilities to help people across the country get on, and stay on, Medicaid. As these adjustments were primarily intended to address the effects of a rapidly evolving pandemic, many flexibilities were set to terminate at the end of the PHE. However, the recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 set the end date of the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement as March 31, 2023. As a result, state Medicaid agencies will begin the process of redetermining Medicaid eligibility as early as this month. The first Medicaid terminations can happen as early as April 1, 2023. Here are some resources available from the National Health Law:
National Health Law Program is hosting a webinar on February 14 at 3pm EST/12pm PST - Unwinding Medicaid Continuous Coverage: Requirements & Red Flags Won't you be our Medicaid valentine? We can't offer you red roses, but we can give advocates red flags to watch for as states begin their unwinding period for the continuous coverage provision. We will review the minimum requirements for redeterminations and the different methods CMS is allowing states to use during the unwinding. We will also discuss predicted problem areas and advocacy opportunities, as well as have time for questions. Register for the webinar here. If you have any accommodation requests please contact our Operations Team (webinars@healthlaw.org) at least 4 days prior to the start of the webinar
|