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DHS director says CMS approved corrective action plan as Minnesota accelerates off‑cycle Medicaid provider revalidation
Summary
Minnesota Department of Human Services reported that CMS approved the state's corrective action plan while the department pursues an off‑cycle revalidation of roughly 5,500 high‑risk Medicaid provider sites; DHS described regional site visits, a new dashboard and outreach efforts to reach nearly 5,000 providers still in progress.
Chris T. Graham, director of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, told the House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee that the agency is conducting an off‑cycle Medicaid provider revalidation required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and that CMS has approved Minnesota's corrective action plan.
Graham said the revalidation effort—launched at the end of January—covers about 5,500 provider sites delivering high‑risk services. He told the committee that about 550 sites have completed the full revalidation process, roughly 4,962 remain to be completed and approximately 1,395 providers had not responded to initial outreach. DHS staff have made about 3,300 phone calls and are offering daily technical assistance, weekly roundtables and on‑demand instructional videos to help providers complete required documents.
Why it matters: CMS requested that Minnesota complete an off‑cycle revalidation of high‑risk providers, compressing a process that usually spans several years into a matter of months. Graham said DHS is using the effort to modernize a previously manual process, moving to an automated checklist and a regional dashboard to prioritize site visits and reduce travel burdens for staff.
Graham summarized the required steps for providers: update the enrollment record and practice details, submit credentials and an enhanced background study for owners with 5%+ interest (Graham cited a background‑study fee of $44), and then complete a federally required on‑site visit (typically under an hour). If a provider is not present during an initial site screen, DHS said it will communicate with the provider and reschedule an unannounced visit.
On the corrective action plan and federal financial actions, Graham said the committee was notified last week that CMS had approved Minnesota's corrective action plan after about seven weeks of review. ‘‘We did hear back they didn't have any revisions,’’ he said, and DHS is following up with CMS on a small set of requested items and on whether plan approval will affect a previously proposed $2 billion withholding and a separate quarter‑by‑quarter deferral of roughly $250 million.
Graham said DHS has adjusted its meeting cadence with CMS—moving from weekly check‑ins to milestone‑based meetings—and emphasized the agency is seeking to demonstrate steady progress on revalidation benchmarks.
What DHS is doing: the department has divided the state into seven regions based on provider density to streamline site visits, is building a data‑visualization dashboard to track readiness and outcomes (pending/approved), and convened an advisory group with provider associations and senior DHS staff to troubleshoot bottlenecks. Graham said many parts of the revalidation process are currently manual and that the agency plans to keep lessons learned to improve future validations.
Details and open questions: Graham gave numeric progress estimates (550 completed, ~4,962 remaining, ~1,395 nonresponders, ~3,300 provider outreach calls) and described timelines and milestones DHS will present to CMS. He said DHS will continue to provide updates to the committee but did not announce a specific near‑term date for completion.
The committee did not take formal action on the revalidation update; members were invited to submit questions offline and DHS said it would return with further updates.
