NAMD Responds to CMS’ Medicaid Enterprise Systems (MES) IT Standards – Request of Information

On September 25, CMS responded to CMS’ Medicaid Enterprise Systems (MES) IT Standards – Request for Information (RFI). Two principles guide NAMD’s response:

1. State and territory Medicaid programs share responsibility with the federal government for ensuring technology delivers results and makes effective use of taxpayer dollars.
2. Medicaid agencies want to work with federal partners to reduce duplicative costs, so all 56 programs do not have to pay separately to build similar capabilities to meet the same federal requirements.

NAMD encourages CMS to strengthen state and territory technical workforces, support modern software delivery practices, and help agencies assess vendor solutions against a consistent federal baseline. These steps can help ensure future standards are practical, sustainable, and responsive to the realities of Medicaid program administration.

NAMD’s response highlights three recommendations:

• Give Medicaid agencies secure access to CMS’ Advance Planning Document (APD) repository so states and territories can share APDs.
• Publish an open-source Medicaid reference implementation, developed with agencies, and an automated test suite that allows them to assess vendor deliverables against federal standards.
• Provide technical assistance that brings policy and technology teams, federal and state partners, and third parties together to address the coordination challenges of modernization.

Read NAMD’s full response to the RFI for more detail on these recommendations and Medicaid agencies’ perspectives.