America’s Essential Hospitals is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reopen the comment period for the Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation (MFAR) proposed rule.
In a May 7 letter to the agency, the association requested the reopening to allow stakeholders to address the rule’s impact in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The association detailed how COVID-19 has fundamentally altered the health and economic landscapes. Hospitals have taken extraordinary steps to mobilize and respond to the pandemic, requiring considerable resources. States are now experiencing unprecedented financial restraints due to the pandemic. Together, these circumstances have put considerable fiscal pressures on states and providers, threatening the stability of the Medicaid program. As such, the association urges CMS to allow states and providers the opportunity to provide comment on the MFAR’s impact in consideration of COVID-19.
The MFAR was proposed in November 2019, with the comment period ending Feb.1, 2020. If finalized, the MFAR would disrupt longstanding Medicaid financing and payment programs, forcing program cuts that would devastate providers, patients, and states.
In comments submitted Jan. 31, America’s Essential Hospitals urged CMS to withdraw the MFAR in its entirety.
Contact Senior Director of Policy Erin O’Malley at eomalley@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
