(Story updated with comment at 1:45 p.m. ET.)
The U.S. Supreme Court sent a widely watched California Medicaid case back to a lower court, declining to rule whether providers can sue states to enforce the federal statute.
The California Medical Association, however, viewed the decision as a “win for physicians and their patients” because the opinion suggests that providers may have a mechanism to challenge Medicaid policies in the courts, according to a news release.
California physicians, hospitals and other providers argued in five lawsuits that state amendments to the Medicaid program, including a 10% reimbursement cut, violated language in the federal law that payments are sufficient to sustain quality and access for beneficiaries. The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals agreed and issued injunctions blocking the state from making the changes.