On Monday, January 30th, the Biden Administration announced the Public Health Emergency (PHE) will end on May 11, 2023. In preparation for the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a new overview fact sheet on CMS Waivers, Flexibilities, and the Transition Forward from the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. The CMS Waivers, Flexibilities, and the Transition Forward from the COVID-19 PHE provides clarity on several topics including:
In the coming weeks, CMS will be hosting stakeholder calls and office hours to provide additional information. Please visit the CMS Emergencies Page for continuous updates regarding PHE sunsetting guidance. In addition, the AAFP has been working with policy advisory firm, Leavitt Partners, to develop an in-depth fact sheet of the programs that will be impacted by the ending of the PHE.
In California, since the initiation of the federal declaration of the PHE, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has implemented over 100 programmatic flexibilities to help minimize the strain to the Medi-Cal program and its beneficiaries, and California’s health care providers and systems. While many of these programmatic flexibilities will terminate on or around the end of the PHE, some will continue due to the positive impact they have left on the Medi-Cal program. In preparation for the end of the federal PHE declaration, DHCS has developed the Unwinding Operational Plan to help inform Medi-Cal beneficiaries, providers, managed care plans, counties, and other stakeholders, of the changes to expect.
