Tag Archives: 1115

A quick, timely update for our reader. As reported in our previous posts on the recently approved Tennessee waiver, in likely anticipation of the Biden Administration withdrawing the newly approved, but controversial waiver, on January 4, 2021 CMS Administrator Seema Verma sent a letter (available here) to State Medicaid Directors requesting they sign a Letter of Agreement “as soon as possible”… More

On November 17th, Arizona’s state Medicaid agency (the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS) sent a letter to CMS proposing policies that it believes will build on past successes and “leverage[] conservative principles.”

In the letter, AHCCS seeks input from CMS on ideas to “modernize” the prescription drug benefits offered under the state’s Medicaid plan.

(Also, notably, though not the topic of this blog post,… More

On July 21, 2017, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (“EOHHS”) announced its intent to submit a request to amend its existing MassHealth Section 1115 Demonstration to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”).   If approved (by both the State legislature, and CMS), it would be the most sweeping change to any state’s Medicaid pharmacy benefit to date. We previously previewed some of the changes EOHHS was considering under the new flexibility granted to states under the Price/Verma administration on this blog.… More

On November 4, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) sent word to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS, referred to here as “MassHealth”) that it approved a major amendment to Massachusetts’ section 1115 demonstration project through June 30, 2017.  At the same time, CMS also approved an extension of this same demonstration through June 30, 2022. Approval of Massachusetts’ waiver amendment comes after nearly a year of negotiations and may ultimately result in the transition of the vast majority of MassHealth enrollees into newly-formed Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”) operating under one three models,… More

We frequently read about state Medicaid programs receiving or being granted “waivers” by CMS, but what does that mean exactly?  What is a “waiver”?  What is the history of Medicaid waivers?  How does the process work?  We hope to answer these questions in this blog post.

The Legal Standard

A “waiver” refers to authority that the Secretary of Health and Human Services possesses under section 1115 of the Social Security Act:

“(a)  In the case of any experimental,… More

Note: for a fairly up-to-date analysis of where states stand on the Medicaid expansion, check out this nice break down by the Advisory Board.

As we previously discussed, the agreement between Indiana and CMS last week to expand Medicaid in that state has big implications for the Medicaid program.  First, Indiana’s agreement with CMS has seemed to trigger a handful of other Red States that now appear ready to rethink agreements with CMS.  … More