Appeals Court Panel Rules HHS Wrongly Approved California’s 2008 10% Rate Cut To Hospital Outpatient Services

On August 7, 2017, a three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wrongly approved California’s request to reduce Medicaid reimbursement by 10% for hospital outpatient services. The panel said the federal government can approve such cuts only if evidence shows that Medicaid beneficiaries will continue to have access to the same services as the general population.

In July 2008, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) cut Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) rates for hospital outpatient services by 10% for an eight-month period . . .