CMS Issues Guidance on CHIPRA Bonus Payments - October 12, 2010

On October 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a State Health Official (SHO) letter with a series of questions and answers for the upcoming FY 2010 Children’s Heath Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) Performance Bonus Payments, based on experiences and feedback from the FY 2009 bonus process. Most importantly, the letter stressed that States believing that they qualify for FY 2010 bonus payments should apply to CHIPRAbonuspayments@cms.hhs.gov by October 15, 2010.

To apply, States must submit:

• a description of at least five of eight measures designed to simplify enrollment and renewal (known as the “5 out of 8 requirement”)
• Medicaid enrollment data

Note that States that received a bonus payment in FY 2009 are not automatically eligible for a 2010 payment. The letter also provides guidance on the eight measures that states much achieve to qualify for bonus payments, including continuous eligibility, automatic renewal, ex parte redeterminations, presumptive eligibility, express lane eligibility, and premium assistance.