Medicaid renewal updates

By Todd Bergstrom  |  November 22, 2023  |  All members

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) continues to work on renewing Medicaid beneficiaries now that the public health emergency has concluded. On November 14, 2023, DHS issued the bulletin, “DHS Implements Mitigation Plan 2.0 and Clarifies Post Renewal Policies (#23-21-26).” The bulletin provides information about the Mitigation Plan 2.0 to conduct Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) ex parte renewals at the individual level, the return to standard eligibility policies following renewal, and the reconsideration periods for renewal cohorts during the unwinding period.

As directed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), DHS must take the following actions: 
  1. Reinstate coverage and renew MA and MSP eligibility for all enrollees who should have been individually auto renewed but were procedurally terminated (i.e., closed for not completing a renewal)
  2. Pause procedural terminations, identify enrollees who should have been individually auto renewed, and renew their MA or MSP eligibility
  3. Implement ongoing mitigations to identify enrollees who should be individually auto renewed and renew eligibility for those enrollees or if necessary, their households
  4. Change the state’s information technology (IT) systems and processes to ensure that ex parte renewals are conducted for each individual enrollee in the household

This bulletin provides information about temporary steps DHS is taking to comply with federal renewal requirements to carry out ex parte renewals at the individual level.

On November 16, 2023, DHS sent the memo, “Provider responsibilities about the reinstatement of coverage for certain MHCP members,” to the provider MN–ITS mailbox. The memo contains the full details about the revised guidance from CMS and clarifies the following:

States must perform auto renewal processes (also called ex parte processes) at the individual member level, instead of at the household level. Minnesota’s eligibility auto renewal processes occur on a household level and, as a result, some impacted individuals with July, August, and September 2023 renewal dates will have their coverage reinstated.

Please contact Todd Bergstrom at the Association office if you have any questions. 


Todd Bergstrom
Todd Bergstrom  |  Director of Research and Data Analysis  |   tbergstrom@careproviders.org  |  952-851-2486