California gets $6.2 billion Medicaid transformation waiver

The CMS has formally signed off on California's $6.2 billion Medicaid waiver, along with its decision to renew extra funding that supports the state's public safety net hospitals for just one year instead of five. 

The CMS announced its decision in a Dec. 30 letter to California officials. As part of the waiver, known as Medi-Cal 2020, the state will receive $6.2 billion to sustain efforts to reform its Medicaid program under a massive transformation waiver that expired on Oct. 31.

The new waiver also includes $3.3 billion to help public safety net hospitals maintain and launch delivery-system reform initiatives, including infrastructure development, system redesign and improvements targeting clinical outcomes and population health.

The funding to help those hospitals shoulder the burden of uncompensated care, however, was renewed for just one year instead of five like the rest of the provisions. The state will receive $236 million for the uncompensated care pool, the same as it received under the final year of previous waiver. 

After the first year, the CMS will reconsider that funding based upon the results of two independent reports.

The first report, due May 15, will focus on uncompensated care delivered at public hospitals. The second report, due June 1, 2017, will focus on uncompensated care, provider payments and financing across all hospitals serving Medicaid beneficiaries and the uninsured under the current waiver.