The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently approved extensions of Section 1115 demonstration waivers for Texas and Mississippi.
Texas’ waiver includes funding for the state’s uncompensated care (UC) pool and delivery system reform incentive payment (DSRIP) program. Mississippi’s waiver provides coverage for family planning services for low-income individuals.
Texas’ five-year waiver extension includes funding for the UC pool to cover charity care at the current level of $3.1 billion for the first two years of the waiver. CMS plans to reassess this amount beginning in October 2019 to ensure charity care costs are accurately reflected. The extension also continues funding for Texas’ DSRIP for four years, decreasing funding in years three and four and ending funding in the demonstration’s fifth year.
Mississippi’s extension marks the first CMS approval of a 10-year waiver, a policy change intended to remove burden and increase flexibility for states. The waiver provides family planning services for individuals ages 13 to 44 who earn up to 194 percent of the federal poverty level and who are not enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Contact Director of Policy Erin O’Malley at eomalley@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
