(a) The State agency must arrange for Medicaid services to be provided without delay to any Medicaid enrollee of an MCO, PIHP, PAHP, PCCM, or PCCM entity the contract of which is terminated and for any Medicaid enrollee who is disenrolled from an MCO, PIHP, PAHP, PCCM, or PCCM entity for any reason other than ineligibility for Medicaid.
(b) The State must have in effect a transition of care policy to ensure continued access to services during a transition from FFS to a MCO, PIHP, PAHP, PCCM or PCCM entity or transition from one MCO, PIHP, PAHP, PCCM or PCCM entity to another when an enrollee, in the absence of continued services, would suffer serious detriment to their health or be at risk of hospitalization or institutionalization.
(1) The transition of care policy must include the following:
(i) The enrollee has access to services consistent with the access they previously had, and is permitted to retain their current provider for a period of time if that provider is not in the MCO, PIHP or PAHP network.
(ii) The enrollee is referred to appropriate providers of services that are in the network.
(iii) The State, in the case of FFS, PCCM, or PCCM entity, or the MCO, PIHP or PAHP that was previously serving the enrollee, fully and timely complies with requests for historical utilization data from the new MCO, PIHP, PAHP, PCCM, or PCCM entity in compliance with Federal and State law.
(iv) Consistent with Federal and State law, the enrollee's new provider(s) are able to obtain copies of the enrollee's medical records, as appropriate.
(v) Any other necessary procedures as specified by the Secretary to ensure continued access to services to prevent serious detriment to the enrollee's health or reduce the risk of hospitalization or institutionalization.
(vi) A process for the electronic exchange of, at a minimum, the data classes and elements included in the content standard adopted at 45 CFR 170.213. Such information received by the MCO, PIHP, or PAHP must be incorporated into the MCO's, PIHP's, or PAHP's records about the current enrollee. With the approval and at the direction of a current or former enrollee or the enrollee's personal representative, the MCO, PIHP, or PAHP must:
(A) Receive all such data for a current enrollee from any other payer that has provided coverage to the enrollee within the preceding 5 years;
(B) At any time the enrollee is currently enrolled in the MCO, PIHP, or PAHP and up to 5 years after disenrollment, send all such data to any other payer that currently covers the enrollee or a payer the enrollee or the enrollee's personal representative specifically requests receive the data; and
(C) Send data received from another payer under this paragraph in the electronic form and format it was received.
(vii) Applicability.
(A) The MCO, PIHP, or PAHP must comply with the requirements in paragraph (b)(1)(vi) of this section beginning January 1, 2022 with regard to data:
(1) With a date of service on or after January 1, 2016; and
(2) That are maintained by the MCO, PIHP, or PAHP.
(B) [Reserved]
(2) The State must require by contract that MCOs, PIHPs, and PAHPs implement a transition of care policy consistent with the requirements in paragraph (b)(1) of this section and at least meets the State defined transition of care policy.
(3) The State must make its transition of care policy publicly available and provide instructions to enrollees and potential enrollees on how to access continued services upon transition. At a minimum, the transition of care policy must be described in the quality strategy, under § 438.340, and explained to individuals in the materials to enrollees and potential enrollees, in accordance with § 438.10.
(c) Applicability date. This section applies to the rating period for contracts with MCOs, PIHPs, PAHPs, PCCMs, and PCCM entities beginning on or after July 1, 2018. Until that applicability date, states are required to continue to comply with § 438.62 contained in the 42 CFR parts 430 to 481, edition revised as of October 1, 2015.
[81 FR 27853, May 6, 2016, as amended at 85 FR 25635, May 1, 2020]