Exceeding 950 pages in its initial prepublication version, CMS’s most recent rule proposing policy and technical changes for contract year 2024 is the Biden administration’s most complicated and sweeping Medicare Advantage and Part D rule to date. Following a comprehensive request for information issued last summer on various aspects of the MA program, the rule addressed many of the same hot-button topics — from health equity and misleading marketing to behavioral health and prior authorization — that CMS asked about in the RFI. Additionally, the rule
proposed major reforms to the Star Ratings and contained meaningful clarifications for MA Special Needs Plans (SNPs).