CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz stated this week that his agency is exploring IT solutions to support states in implementing Medicaid work requirements. Specifically, CMS is aiming to create an IT infrastructure that will pull a hodgepodge of data related to work requirements and eligibility in a “central place.”
CMS aims to release the minimum requirements for the ambitious system “within a year.” Dr. Oz also noted that CMS’ IT modernization effort is receiving help from the DOGE, and its acting administrator, Amy Gleason. Patient advocates pointed out that the House-passed reconciliation bill would give states barely 18 months to implement work requirements, so CMS’ new IT system could not possibly be ready by then.
Daniel Tsai, former CMS Medicaid Director under Pres. Biden, stated: “Those systems do not work…. They’ve led to people not being to navigate through that, and they’ve led to immense amounts of costs from any of the IT vendors that have tried to build this app. So, I think any realistic state or person on the ground or IT vendor thinking about this will understand that it is impossible — not only under the timelines — but in any sort of way that does not lead to incredible challenges of people navigating the system.”