May 6, 2011

Medicaid Program; Methods for Assuring Access to Covered Medicaid Services, Proposed Rule

A new Medicaid rule proposed by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) seeks to discourage states from reducing reimbursement rates for provider organizations and professionals by requiring states to demonstrate that rate cuts would not impair access to care for Medicaid beneficiaries. States would also be required to continually monitor Medicaid recipients’ access to care, and measure and document access to every covered benefit at least once every five years and develop plans to address access problems. The proposed rule was released May 6, 2011; comments are due by July 5, 2011.