AAP Statement on Proposed Rule on Medicaid State-Directed Payments

By: Andrew D. Racine, MD, PhD, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics

“The American Academy of Pediatrics is deeply concerned by the proposed rule announced earlier this week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which will make it harder for children to get the care they need to thrive. These proposed changes will have an especially devastating impact on children’s hospitals, clinicians and hospitals in rural areas, and pediatricians already operating on razor-thin margins. 
 
“Medicaid is first and foremost a children’s program. In addition to covering nearly half of all children in this country, it helps ensure that children can access the full range of care they need, from preventive services and primary care to specialty care in children's hospitals. By limiting the critical funding that connects communities to care, the proposed rule runs in direct conflict with the agency’s promise that last year’s cuts to Medicaid would not harm children. 
   
“Pediatricians have consistently spoken loud and clear: undercutting Medicaid means undercutting our future. CMS should reverse course on this harmful proposed rule and instead work to advance policies that strengthen Medicaid for the children, families and communities that rely on it.” 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.