The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that improves ability to measure and ensure meaningful access to covered services and provides greater safeguards for beneficiaries who may otherwise experience great difficulty in receiving needed health care services.
The final rule requires states to develop an access review plan that sets out the data elements and other information to be used to ensure beneficiary access to mandatory and optional services; to establish new procedures to review the effects on beneficiary access of proposed rate reductions and payment restructuring; and to implement ongoing access monitoring reviews of key services, and additional services as warranted.
