CMS Issues Medicaid Director Letter on Expedited State Plan Amendments (October 1, 2010)

CMS on October 1^st issued a State Medicaid Directors Letter to inform states about the implementation of a “more efficient process for the review of proposed modifications to the State Medicaid plan.” In the past, CMS was required to review and approve State Plan Amendments (SPA) for consistency with the Medicaid statute before the state may implement any changes in their Medicaid program. The review process also required that any issue identified during the review of a SPA must be resolved before the state can make any changes, holding back other changes that are part of the proposed SPA, but not identified by CMS as needing further review.

According to the letter, states will now have the option to resolve issues related to State plan provisions that are not integral to the SPA through a separate process. The letter includes the new procedure and several examples of issues that have been in question by CMS in a SPA, but could be addressed separately because they do not hinder the implementation of other provisions submitted by the state in the same SPA.

ANCOR members should be aware of this change as many states will be making state plan adjustments as the Affordable Care Act is implemented, particularly Medicaid expansions. (See ANCOR issue briefs on Health Care Reform)