June 28, 2023
The New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) has shared an update on its efforts to initiate Medicaid renewals following the expiration of special Medicaid rules that were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The update states that New Jersey is finding that too high a percentage of members in early renewal groups have not yet responded in any way to their renewal packages, indicating that they may not have seen or understood the mail that was sent to them. Due to these trends, both in New Jersey and nationally, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is allowing states to delay disenrollment under certain conditions.
NJ FamilyCare restarted Medicaid member eligibility processes in April of this year, for approximately 1/12th of Medicaid enrollees. Each month of the unwinding year, NJ FamilyCare will be reaching out to another 1/12th of Medicaid enrollees to renew their coverage. Enrollees are instructed to continue watching out for mail from NJ FamilyCare, and should return their renewal packets as soon as possible, even if they are overdue.
DHS has announced that it is enacting a 30-day eligibility extension to members who never responded and would have had their coverage terminated at the end of June. Additionally, DHS reported that it anticipates providing a single 30-day extension to each new renewal group in the first three months of the unwinding year, giving DHS time to monitor and improve its outreach strategy to ensure they are making every effort to connect with members who have never responded, and to evaluate the benefit of the extended deadlines.
Click here to access the update from DMAHS and for more information.
All providers are encouraged to share this information with their clients.
