Dive Brief:
- CMS announced its formal approval to California on Dec. 30 for the the $6.2 billion Medicaid waiver the state had sought.
- The "Medi-Cal 2020" waiver will provide $6.2 billion to California to help the state sustain its work to reform its Medicaid program that was begun under a waiver that expired in October 2015.
- Included in the new waiver is $3.3 billion earmarked for improvements to public safety net hospitals.
Dive Insight:
What stands out in the deal is what was not entirely approved; California's request for continued funding to assist safety net hospitals in covering uncompensated care received renewal for just one year, compared to five years for the waiver's other provisions, as Modern Healthcare notes.
California will receive the same amount for its uncompensated care pool as it did under its previous waiver ($236M) for one year, and then future funding will hinge on CMS' review of upcoming independent reports on uncompensated care and why some Californians continue to be uninsured.
“Coverage is the best way to assure beneficiary access to healthcare for low income individuals, and uncompensated-care pool funding should not pay for costs that would otherwise be covered in a Medicaid expansion,” Modern Healthcare quotes CMS Medicaid Director Vikki Wachino in her letter to California last fall.