CMS

The Biden-Harris Administration has announced that more than 59 million Americans with Medicare Part B, including those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, now have access to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved, authorized, or cleared over-the-counter COVID-19 tests at no cost. People with Medicare can get up to eight tests per month from participating pharmacies and health care providers for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CMS has announced it will offer more than $110 million to expand access to home and community-based services (HCBS) through Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) program. The new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) makes individual awards of up to $5 million available for more than 20 states and territories not currently participating in MFP. These funds will support initial planning and implementation to get the state/territory programs off the ground, which would ensure more people with Medicaid can receive high-quality, cost-effective, person-centered services in a setting they choose.

On Thursday, February 24, 2022, CMS released a CMCS Informational Bulletin with the updated 2022 Federal Poverty Level Standards. The 2022 guidelines reflect the 4.7 percent price increase between calendar years 2020 and 2021. After this inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to standardize the differences between family and household sizes. The informational bulletin also includes a 2022 Dual Eligible Standards chart that displays the new standards for the Medicare Savings Program categories.

On Thursday, February 17, 2022 CMS released a request for information (RFI) regarding access to Medicaid and CHIP Services. The RFI is broad and extends beyond prior CMS access inquiries, which largely focused on eligible beneficiaries ability to receive covered Medicaid services. This RFI includes topics such as how beneficiaries enroll in and maintain access to coverage, access to the actual services, and payment rates.

The Administration's new COVID-19 testing initative will now allow people in either Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage to get up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month at no cost starting this spring. Tests will be available through eligible pharmacies and other participating entities. This is the first time that Medicare has covered an over-the-counter test at no cost to beneficiaries. Through the new initiative, payment from Medicare will be provided directly to participating pharmacies to allow Medicare beneficiaries to pick up tests at no cost.

Starting on Wednesday, January 26, CMS began posting new information on the Care Compare website to help consumers better understand staffing levels and concerns at nursing home facilities that can influence the quality of care being provided to residents. Information on staff turnover and weekend staff will be posted for each facility.

On January 12, 2022, CMS released the Medicaid LTSS Annual Expenditures Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2019. This report discusses the LTSS rebalancing trends and growth in expenditures for home and community-based services as compared to institutional spending during the time period reviewed.

As part of its ongoing efforts across many channels to expand Americans’ access to free testing, the Biden-Harris Administration is requiring insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests, so people with private health coverage can get them for free starting January 15, 2022.

The CMS Office of Minority Health (OMH) has published a new report, Trends in Racial, Ethnic, Sex, and Rural-Urban Inequities in Health Care in Medicare Advantage: 2009-2018. Since 2015, CMS OMH has published annual reports highlighting inequities in the quality of care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. Until now, these reports have focused on comparisons within a single year. This new report analyzes historical trends in inequities by race, ethnicity, sex, and geography among Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans nationwide.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is working with states to promote access to Medicaid services for people with mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) crises. Authorized under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP), states have a new option for supporting community-based mobile crisis intervention services for individuals with Medicaid. This option will help states integrate these services into their Medicaid programs, a critical component in establishing a sustainable and public health-focused support network.