““In the interest of allowing CMS to focus their resources and work with states more effectively, we are consolidating efforts from Emmy API into the Federal Data Services Hub (aka the ‘Hub’ or ‘FDSH’) instead,” the federal agency told the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing earlier this month.
The shift means states will be able to connect with a familiar data system to check if a Medicaid recipient is enrolled in school or is a disabled veteran exempt from forthcoming work requirements mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. CMS is relying on data from the National Student Clearinghouse and the Department of Veterans Affairs for those verification features, multiple state Medicaid agencies said.
A CMS spokesperson said the agency is working to make additional data sources and APIs available through the Federal Data Services Hub before most states have to implement Medicaid work requirements on Jan. 1, 2027. One employee with the Department of Health and Human Services who spoke with Nextgov/FCW praised the CMS Federal Data Services Hub integration because it would give states fewer technical connections to worry about for Medicaid applicant data verification.
But states are split on using CMS data verification services and Medicaid policy experts told Nextgov/FCW that those federal offerings won’t be able to fulfill all eligibility check needs.”