Starting in 2024, states will no longer receive extra federal funding associated with the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement that was in place from March 2020 through March 2023. But the recent Interim Final Rule with Comment (IFC) released by CMS reminds states that they must continue to meet data reporting requirements specified by Congress and comply with federal redetermination requirements or subject to financial penalties through June 2024.

As background – in the final days of 2022, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 (CAA) lifting the COVID-related Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement effective March 31, 2023. The CAA established specific state and federal data reporting obligations and provided additional enforcement tools for CMS to hold states accountable for data reporting and compliance with federal redetermination requirements. The CAA authorizes CMS to closely monitor the unwinding, which better positions CMS to take actions to prevent inappropriate coverage terminations during this critical period.

While the regular regulatory process involves proposing a rule, taking public comment, and then issuing a final rule before the provisions become final, an interim final rule (IFR) allows the agency to enforce a rule quickly. The IRC, which codifies the statutory requirements passed by Congress just before the end of 2022, was effective on December 6, 2023. However, the agency is taking comments on the proposed rule until February 2, 2024.