Situational Awareness: ICE Presence
MHCA took part in the presentation by the Health Care Coalition on situational/community awareness regarding the presence of ICE in Minnesota. The coalition recommended that agencies activate their emergency plan if they have not already done so. If agencies are not activating their emergency plan, the coalition leaders recommend that agency leadership offers information to their employees on what to do if they are stopped by ICE, or if ICE comes to see a patient in their home or facility.
Fredrikson’s Senior Immigration Lawyer, Matthew Webster, just presented on How to Prepare for Immigration Enforcement at Your Worksite and in Your Community for
MHCA. You can access this free webinar here. We are including some great resources for addressing ICE:
Economic Blackout January 23
Faith leaders, union representatives and community members are calling for a Day of Truth and Freedom on Friday, January 23, urging all Minnesotans not to go to work, school, or shopping. MHCA strongly encourages agencies to take potential liability and ethical issues into consideration and address this with your employees, emphasizing that clients are counting on them.
Prepayment Updates
After speaking with DHS, we have gained some clarity on why many providers are seeing inconsistent or missing payments last week.
The primary issue stems from the timing of the most recent warrant cycle, which technically ran through midnight on December 25, 2025. Because the cycle ended on the second of two consecutive holidays, DHS processed payments differently than usual:
- The December 23rd Deadline: The payments issued January 13th only account for "clean claims" submitted by midnight on 12/23/25.
- The December 24th and 25th Deadline: According to DHS, roughly 40% of all claims were submitted in the final 48 hours of the cycle (12/24–12/25). These claims were not included in last week's disbursement.
There was nothing in the published 2025 warrant cycle calendar to indicate an early deadline of 12/23, which explains why so many providers were caught off guard.
This explains the high level of inconsistency we are seeing across the board. It appears that payment issues do not seem to be tied to specific service types, but rather strictly to the timing of submission.
This has been elevated to the highest levels of state government. It is currently the top priority for Commissioner Gandhi, Deputy Commissioner Connolly, and the Governor’s Office.
What we are doing now:
- We have formally inquired if DHS can authorize an additional payment release this week to cover the remaining 40% of claims.
- DHS indicated they would review the feasibility of an off-cycle payment.
As for the current payment plan:
- Payments for unflagged claims and cleared flagged claims from the Dec. 13 - Dec. 23 warrant cycle were made on Jan. 13, 2026.
- Payments for unflagged claims and cleared flagged claims from the Jan. 13 warrant cycle will be released on Jan. 27, 2026.
- Unflagged and cleared flagged claims from the following warrant cycle will be paid on February 10.
To provide additional detail, "cleared flagged claims" are those that Optum flagged for DHS review, and DHS was able to review and release them for payment.
Updates are provided on the DHS website.
UCare Update
MHCA has received an update on the UCare 2025 payments. There is a court approved process for UCare’s Rehabilitation. We believe that a payment plan will be announced in the next month or two, once approved by the courts and are hopeful that you will receive at least partial payments for the last portion of December 2025.
There is some mis-information being shared about the impact of the UCare rehabilitation process. DHS has informed MHCA that an issue with entering service agreements has been resolved. For those concerned about UCare not having funds available to cover outstanding claims from 2025, we have learned that UCare will receive substantial receivables in July and August 2026. Lastly, we are also aware that there is a concern that the large systems who filed motions seeking injunctive relief will be the first to receive payments. We have been assured that the rehabilitation process treats all providers equally; this process is different than bankruptcy.
Please continue to monitor this website for all updates.
Minnesota Appeals CMS Decision to Withhold $2 Billion in Medicaid Investments
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is appealing a decision by the Trump Administration to withhold more than $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding from the state.
The withholding was announced last week in a social media video by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In the video, he claimed that Minnesota has not taken sufficient action to combat fraud within its Medicaid program.
This happens after the state took action to meet the steps CMS outlined in a December letter to address program integrity concerns. However, Administrator Oz has determined that DHS’ efforts are insufficient.
The state has formally appealed the CMS decision, and the federal agency is now required to schedule a hearing.
Details and updates on the DHS’ program integrity work are available on the Medicaid program integrity webpage.
PCA and CFSS Tiered Wage Floor Update
On December 30, 2025, DHS issued an eList announcement stating that the new tiered wage floors in the PCA Choice and CFSS budget model would not take effect until federal approval of the 2026 rates is received.
A DHS representative stated they were paying the 2026 tiered rates effective January 1, 2026 while they work to obtain federal approval with that effective date. MHCA is hearing that providers are not receiving the increased rate and is looping back to DHS for clarity.
The CFSS tiered rates have been updated as published in the Long-Term Services and Supports Service Rate Limits (DHS-3945)
. Claims will be adjusted if federal approval of the new rates is not obtained.
DHS Announces New Weekly Provider E-Newsletter
DHS is releasing a new weekly e-newsletter titled MHCP Provider Connect, aimed at keeping Minnesota Health Care Program (MHCP) providers updated on DHS actions.
Click here for more information and to sign up for the newsletter.
Changes to MHCP Provider website
Note the following changes to the MHCP Provider website:
Aging and Adult Services Division (AASD) and Disability Services Division (DSD) Updates
The AASD and DSD included the following updates in their weekly release:
Reminder: Minnesota direct care staffing shortage impact annual survey
- Audience: People receiving any type of direct care service and other interested parties
- Survey deadline: Feb. 1, 2026
- Summary: DHS is conducting an optional, anonymous survey to collect feedback on how the direct care staffing shortage impacts people who receive supports.
CFSS implementation updates
- Audience: People who receive personal care assistance (PCA), Consumer Support Grant (CSG) and CFSS services, families, providers, lead agencies and other interested parties
- Summary: DHS began the transition from PCA and CSG to CFSS on Oct. 1, 2024. We will provide regular updates throughout the transition.
New resources to help people receiving support increase communication skills
- Audience: Lead agencies, service providers and other interested parties
- Summary: DHS created two new optional resources to help people receiving support increase their communication skills.
MDH Updates Resources for Emergency Preparedness
Updated resources for emergency preparedness are now live on the MDH website. See the link here for updated information.
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