NGA wants single standard on medicaid revenue sources.(Medicaid)

Publication: Medicine & Health

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Not yet recovered from the long economic downturn, state Medicaid programs are suffering a new assault, this time administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. So alleges testimony presented by the National Governors Association at a House Commerce Committee hearing April 1.

The problem, as NGA sees it: In cracking down on what the Bush administration calls shifty accounting maneuvers some states use to garner extra federal matching funds, CMS hasn't set clear standards for which schemes are and which are not allowable.

"I have sympathy for CMS" because of the complications involved, said Ohio Medicaid chief Barbara Edwards, who testified for NGA. But "what we need are clear standards, and we will do our best to meet them. What we often have today does feel like a changing...

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