Seven more states get Medicaid waivers to help fight pandemic; cash-strapped rural hospitals need the help - Entrepreneur Generations

On Wednesday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved waivers in seven more states in an effort to help them fight the coronavirus pandemic. "Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oregon and Rhode Island scored the new Section 1135 Medicaid waivers. So far, the CMS has approved 23 of these waivers with an average turnaround of less than seven days between a state submitting its plan and getting the green light," Erica Teichert reports for Modern Healthcare.

The waivers apply to Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. "Under the waivers, states can temporarily suspend prior authorization requirements, extend existing authorizations for services through the end of the public health emergency, suspend some nursing home pre-admission reviews, ease reimbursement for care delivered in alternative settings due to facility evacuations, and relax provider enrollment requirements to allow states to more quickly enroll out-of-state or other new providers to expand access to care," Modern Healthcare reports. The waivers are retroactive to March 1 and will end when the health emergency is declared over.

Rural hospitals could benefit, especially since many were in poor financial health before the pandemic. Right now, rural hospitals are facing a one-two punch: not enough money to prepare for pandemic patients, and not much money coming in since elective procedures have been ordered canceled in many states. "The lull threatens to bankrupt them," Richard Read reports for the Los Angeles Times.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2UiUn3p Seven more states get Medicaid waivers to help fight pandemic; cash-strapped rural hospitals need the help - Entrepreneur Generations

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