A new Medicaid provider payment reassignment regulation eliminates the ability of states to divert any portion of Medicaid payments to third parties.
Such diversion was authorized, in a limited manner, in 2014, when CMS created an exception to the existing prohibition on the diversion of provider payments to third parties. That exception involved diversion of payments to selected third parties, mostly in-home personal care workers, but in this new, final regulation, the agency eliminates this exception, maintaining that it is inconsistent with the Social Security Act.
Learn more about the new regulation in a CMS news release or see the new regulation itself.