Inside Health Policy interviewed Manatt's Michael Kolber, an associate in the firm's Healthcare practice, for an article on CMS' new guidance on innovation waivers.
The agency's updates on the waivers, which would let states opt out of major pieces of the Affordable Care Act, don't yet offer any significant details about how the waivers could be used.
Kolber said, "I think the release of this information emphasizes, however, that CMS is ready to begin talking to states about elements of the ACA they would like to have waived. The waivers can first apply in 2017 and so the time is now for states to be brainstorming about what they would like to do differently in 2017 and to begin putting their waiver proposals together."