Press release:
Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) released the following after reintroducing three legislative items to help improve our nation’s Medicaid system. The legislative items include the Prioritizing the Most Vulnerable Americans Act (formerly H.R. 6462), Better Accounting for Medicaid Costs Act of 2017 (formerly H.R. 5021), and the Improving Oversight and Accountability in Medicaid Non-DSH Supplemental Payments Act (formerly H.R. 2151). These bills will lower costs, increase oversight, and give patients better access to Medicaid coverage.
“We need to improve Medicaid in order to expand coverage for those who need it most and lower costs that are increasing at an unsustainable rate,” Congressman Collins said. “These legislative items will raise accountability standards and ensure Medicaid supports the most vulnerable Americans, which is what it was designed to accomplish.”
Prioritizing the Most Vulnerable Americans Act (formerly H.R. 6462)
Requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in approving Medicaid demonstration projects to:
- Prioritize projects that have been proven effective in improving care and outcomes with respect to uninsured, Medicaid-eligible, or low-income individuals;
- Require participating states to make publicly available data regarding the health outcomes for individuals it serves;
- Ensure that projects are not duplicative of any federal program or funding opportunity;
- Require participating states to make publicly available an analysis of the degree to which such projects preclude private and charitable sector efforts to improve care and outcomes with respect to uninsured, Medicaid-eligible, or low-income individuals.
Better Accounting for Medicaid Costs Act of 2017 (formerly H.R. 5021)
- Requires CMS to follow regular notice and comment rulemaking procedures when issuing sub-regulatory guidance that is estimated to cost the federal government more than $100 million or states more than $50 million.
Improving Oversight and Accountability in Medicaid Non-DSH Supplemental Payments Act (formerly H.R. 2151)
Requires the Secretary of HHS to:
- Establish annual reporting requirements for non-DSH supplemental Medicaid payments to providers;
- Issue guidance to states that identifies permissible methods for calculation of non-DSH supplemental payments;
- Establish requirements for state making non-DSH supplemental payments to conduct an annual independent audit of these payments.
Each of these legislative items is cosponsored by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Medicaid Task Force. The Task Force was established during the 114th Congress by former Chairman Fred Upton and is led by Congressman Brett Guthrie. Members of the Task Force were charged with devising ways to strengthen and sustain Medicaid for the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
