Partnership for Medicaid Urges CMS to Preserve Medicaid Access in SDP Rule

In a July 21 letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Partnership for Medicaid urged the agency to withdraw several proposals in the Medicaid Managed Care State Directed Payments and Medicaid Fee-for-Service Targeted Medicaid Practitioner Payments proposed rule that would negatively impact access to care for Medicaid beneficiaries.

The Partnership for Medicaid is a nonpartisan, nationwide coalition of organizations representing clinicians, health care providers, safety net health plans, and counties. The coalition's goal is to preserve and improve the Medicaid program. America's Essential Hospitals signed on to this joint letter along with 14 other organizations.

The letter urges CMS to not restrict Medicaid payments beyond congressional intent. Specifically, the partnership urged CMS to:

• Apply the Medicare-based limit only to the four service types included in the Working Families Tax Cut legislation
• Withdraw its proposal to establish a new Medicare-based limit for targeted Medicaid FFS payments
• Withdraw the proposed restrictions on the use of value-based payment (VBP) models in managed care
• Withdraw its proposal to prohibit uniform increases for the first rating period on or after Jan. 1, 2028, for new and non-grandfathered SDPs

Contact Director of Policy Rob Nelb, MPH, at [email protected] or 202.585.0127 with questions.