Significant CMS moves include withdrawal of emergency abortion care guidance

Editor's Note

CMS has rescinded a 2022 guidance that protected clinicians providing emergency abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), removing a key federal safeguard for providers in states with abortion restrictions, according to a June 2 article in Becker’s Hospital Review.

The guidance, originally issued in July 2022 by the Biden administration following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, clarified that EMTALA required hospitals to offer emergency abortion care to pregnant patients regardless of state laws. EMTALA, enacted in 1986, mandates that Medicare hospitals provide appropriate emergency treatment to all patients. As detailed in the article, the rescinded materials included both the CMS guidance and a letter from former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Although the guidance has been revoked, CMS stated on June 3 that it will continue to enforce EMTALA, including in emergency scenarios involving threats to the life or health of a pregnant person or fetus. The agency said it aims to "rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration’s actions," Becker’s reports.

Another Becker’s article, published June 3, covers major moves CMS has made under new Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD under the “Make America Healthy Again” framework. Read the full report for details on each list item: 

• Closing a Medicaid tax “loophole” (states using tax structures that artificially inflate federal payments while reducing state Medicaid contributions).
• Restricting Medicaid coverage for undocumented immigrants.
• Withdrawing the 2022 emergency abortion guidance (the same action summarized above)
• Launching hospital investigations on gender care for minors.
• Strengthening hospital price transparency rules.
• Finalizing 2026 Medicare Advantage and Part D rules.
• Boosting Medicare Advantage payments.
• Expanding MA plan audits.
• Halting federal matches for certain state Medicaid programs.
• Proposing FY 2026 payment increases