CMS queries N.H. on Medicaid rate cuts

The CMS requested that the New Hampshire health department provide detailed information about reductions in Medicaid reimbursement rates in recent years.

In a May 23 letter (PDF), CMS Deputy Administrator Cindy Mann asked the state's Department of Health and Human Services to submit specific data and analysis about Medicaid rate and payment reimbursements within 30 days.

Last summer, 10 hospitals in New Hampshire sued the state alleging that it violated the Medicaid Act by not providing sufficient reimbursement for Medicaid patients and that the health commissioner did not notify providers about the rate reductions or allow opportunities for comment.

The hospitals are Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, Lebanon; Catholic Medical Center and Elliot Health System, both in Manchester; Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Dover; Exeter (N.H.) Health Resources; Southern New Hampshire Health System and St. Joseph Hospital, both in Nashua; LRGHealthcare, Laconia; Cheshire Medical Center, Keene; and Frisbie Memorial Hospital, Rochester.

A federal judge later ruled that the state is required to provide notice and justification of the rate reductions. The state said it provided notice on March 30.

Meanwhile, in April, the trustees at the 10 hospitals sent a letter to Mann asking the CMS to intervene. They wrote that “federal intervention is now necessary to stop any further deterioration of the Medicaid delivery system.”

The CMS said in the letter that it has held a number of meetings this year with the New Hampshire health department. According to the letter, the state has not provided “information or data-driven analysis” that the CMS requested during a March meeting.

“Given the questions that have arisen and the actions some providers have already taken to limit their participation in the program, CMS has informed the state that access to care must be demonstrated in a comprehensive and data-driven way and that rates and payments must be clearly identified within the state plan,” Mann said in the letter.

The New Hampshire health department was not immediately available for comment.