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CMS NEWS:
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Request for Information on
Access to Care and Coverage for People Enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP



CMS seeks stakeholder input on barriers to health care access and
coverage for underserved families and communities.


As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to advance health equity and reduce
health disparities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking feedback
on topics related to health care access, such as enrolling in and maintaining coverage,
accessing health care services and supports, and ensuring adequate provider payment
rates to encourage provider availability and quality. This Request for Information (RFI) is
one of many actions CMS is taking to develop a more comprehensive access strategy in its
Medicaid and CHIP programs.


“We are committed to providing equitable access to quality health care and removing any
barriers to quality health care,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“We want to hear directly from stakeholders so we can strengthen our programs for the more
than 80 million Americans with Medicaid or CHIP health insurance. Together, by advancing health
equity, we can ensure quality health care is within reach for everyone who needs it.”


“Medicaid and CHIP provide essential health coverage for over 80 million individuals and families,”
said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Ensuring every eligible person can access the
coverage and care to which they are entitled is a foundational principle of health equity and our
work at CMS. We invite interested stakeholders and individuals with lived experience to join us in
this mission, starting by responding to the request for information.”


“With this RFI, we are taking a first step towards a broader perspective of what ‘access’ to Medicaid
means,” said CMS Director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services Daniel Tsai. “Ensuring access
to Medicaid includes addressing a range of barriers current and potential Medicaid beneficiaries may
experience, from enrolling in Medicaid to maintaining coverage, to accessing care across both fee-for-service
and managed care delivery systems. Access must also cross physical health care, behavioral health,
and home and community based services. We look forward to capturing a wide range of perspectives
from different stakeholders with this RFI.”


Feedback obtained from the RFI announced today will aid in CMS’ understanding of enrollees’ barriers
to enrolling in and maintaining coverage and accessing needed health care services and support through
Medicaid and CHIP. This information will help inform future polices, monitoring, and regulatory actions,
helping ensure beneficiaries have equitable access to high-quality and appropriate care across all
Medicaid and CHIP payment and delivery systems, including fee-for-service, managed care, and
alternative payment models. The RFI submissions will also inform CMS’ work to ensure timely access
to critical services, such as behavioral health care and home and community-based services.


Evidence shows that while Medicaid and CHIP generally provide comprehensive coverage for
health care services, some enrollees still experience challenges accessing providers and medical services
despite statutory access protections in Medicaid. CMS’ access RFI aims to gather information to help
understand many of these concerns with feedback from experts, beneficiaries, and community members
with lived experience of the agency’s programs.


The RFI seeks feedback from a diverse set of stakeholders on a broad set of topics from ensuring
adequate payment rates to encouraging provider availability and quality, to culturally and linguistically
competent care and reducing gaps in health care coverage. Interested parties may access the RFI
questions and provide comment on Medicaid.gov. The RFI is open for a 60 day public comment period
beginning February 17, 2022.



To read the RFI, visit: