CMS Issues Guidance On FMAP Increase During COVID-19 Outbreak

As my colleague Tom Barker wrote last week, the second emergency COVID-19 supplemental bill (officially referred to as the Families First Coronavirus Response Act), signed by the President on March 18, 2020, included a new section 6008 increasing each state Medicaid program's federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) by 6.2% during the period of the current national emergency to the extent they abide by certain minimum standards. CMS has now issued a lengthy FAQ on the availability of these new enhanced Federal funds, which were made retroactive to January 1, 2020 and will continue through the last day of the calendar quarter in which the COVID-19 public health emergency terminations. Experts estimate this funding boost will deliver roughly$35 billion in extra funding to states.