CMS

CMS Office of Minority Health has added a new resource to their Improving Access to Care for People with Disabilities webpage. The resource, Modernizing Health Care to Improve Physical Accessibility: A Primer for Providers, is intended to help staff in health care settings improve quality, satisfaction, and physical accessibility for people with disabilities.

On Tuesday, July 6, 2021, CMS released the Quality Report to Congress identifying efforts undertaken to improve the quality of health care for children and adults enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The report provides information on activities undertaken between 2017 and 2019, including changes in performance in the quality measures included in the Medicaid and CHIP Child and Adult Core Sets.

CMS has released a Center Informational Bulletin providing tools to states and CMS to improve the oversight of managed care and increase beneficiaries’ access to care. In the bulletin, CMS shares resources to improve compliance with managed care standards and requirements and guidance setting the content and format of the Annual Managed Care Program Report. The bulletin also outlines multiple tools and resources for improving managed care oversight that are currently in development at CMS.

The Coverage to Care (C2C) patient resource released earlier this year, Telehealth: What to Know for Your Family, is now available in Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese, as well as English and Spanish. This resource helps patients learn about the types of care they can receive through telehealth, how to prepare for an appointment, and what to expect during a telehealth visit.

On Tuesday, May 4, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a Center Informational Bulletin (CIB) discussing the recent extension of the HCBS spousal impoverishment policies. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 extended the requirement that Medicaid programs apply spousal impoverishment protections until September 30, 2023. CMS also described plans to release future guidance regarding options for income and asset disregards.

CMS, in collaboration with New Editions Consulting Inc. is offering free HCBS technical assistance to states who are: planning on expanding Medicaid home and community-based services, and/or changing approaches and strategies to be more responsive to CMS guidance, stakeholder input, and state priorities, and/or modifying current HCBS programs based on state and stakeholder experiences in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.

On March 18, 2021 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Medicaid Informational Bulletin with the updated 2021 Federal Poverty Level (FPL) Standards. The bulletin also includes the 2021 Dual Eligible Standards chart that displays the new standards for the Medicare Savings Program categories.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued updated guidance for nursing homes to safely expand visitation options during the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency. This latest guidance comes as more than 3 million doses of vaccines have been administered within nursing homes. Read the full guidance for more information.

CMS is committed to continuing to take critical steps to ensure America’s healthcare facilities are prepared to respond to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency (PHE). CMS has issued a new guidance for visitation in ICF/IIDs and PRTFs during the COVID-19 PHE. The guidance provides ways an ICF/IID and PRTF can more safely facilitate in-person visitation and address the psychosocial needs of clients/residents.

On January 19th Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicaid LTSS Annual Expenditures Report for Federal Fiscal Years (FFY) 2017 and 2018. This report discusses the LTSS rebalancing trends and growth in expenditures for home and community based services (HCBS) as compared to institutional spending during these select years.