Medicaid Agency Increases Scrutiny of States’ Health Pilot Plans

The Trump administration announced that it will begin closer inspections of state Medicaid pilot programs to ensure they don’t add costs for the federal government.

The Centers for Medicaid & Medicaid Services sent a letter to state Medicaid directors Thursday informing them the agency will be taking additional steps to ensure budget neutrality of Medicaid Section 1115 waivers. Those waivers allow states to experiment with initiatives, demonstrations, and pilot programs that forgo certain statutory requirements of Medicaid if the CMS finds the initiative promotes the program’s objectives.

These demonstration projects are used to fund several services not traditionally covered by ...