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Margia Corner

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Margia Corner is a partner in the Governmental Practice in the firm's San Francisco and Washington, D.C. offices and a member of the firm’s Healthcare Team.

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The Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Dr. Mehmet Oz, spoke to non-profit health system executives, investors, and industry observers this week at the 25th Annual Not-for-Profit Healthcare Investors Conference sponsored by Barclays, HFMA and the American Hospital Association. Dr. Oz outlined his vision for CMS – after joking that the difference between a “vision” and a “hallucination” is whether a person can bring others along with them – and addressed some of the critical policy issues related to Medicaid currently under debate in the United States Congress. Continue Reading CMS Administrator Outlines His Vision for CMS at NFP Healthcare Investors Conference

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published the fiscal year (“FY”) 2026 proposed rule for Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) (the “Proposed Rule”). Comments to the Proposed Rule must be submitted by 5 p.m. EDT on June 10, 2025.Continue Reading CMS Proposes Medicare Payment Policies for Hospital Inpatient Services for Federal Fiscal Year 2026

On January 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14187 (the “EO”), which directed the federal government to take steps to ensure that the federal government does not “sponsor, promote, assist, or support” the “‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another,” including the provision of gender-affirming care to individuals under the age of nineteen. Specific provisions of the EO directed, among other things, that: (1) all federal agencies rescind or amend all policies relying on guidance issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health; (2) federal agencies that provide research or education grants to hospitals and medical schools take “appropriate steps” to ensure that institutions receiving federal research or education grants end gender-affirming care to individuals under the age of nineteen; (3) the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) take all appropriate regulatory and legal action to end gender-affirming care for individuals under the age of nineteen—such as through Medicare or Medicaid conditions of participation or conditions for coverage, clinical-abuse or inappropriate-use assessments relevant to State Medicaid programs; (4) the U.S. Attorney General to enforce an existing federal law against “genital mutilation” (18 U.S.C. § 116), and coordinate with state attorneys general to enforce state laws against gender-affirming care; and (5) the Director of the Office of Personnel Management include provisions in the Federal Employee Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits programs call letter for the 2026 plan year specifying that eligible carriers exclude coverage for pediatric transgender surgeries or hormone treatments.Continue Reading Recent Legal and Regulatory Developments Involving Gender-Affirming Care

In a move signaling a major shift in federal priorities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently announced it will limit federal funding for state Medicaid initiatives that support services beyond direct medical care. New policy guidance indicates that CMS intends to narrow the scope of the federal-state Medicaid partnership, refocusing matching funds on core healthcare services delivered to Medicaid beneficiaries. The timing is notable, as Congress and state Medicaid leaders brace for the potential of more significant cuts to federal funding for Medicaid in the upcoming federal budget reconciliation process.Continue Reading CMS to Withdraw Federal Medicaid Match for Workforce, Social Needs, and Infrastructure: What States, Health Care Providers and Community Organizations Need to Know