New Methodology Increases ARRA FMAPs for Some States

On August 4, 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published in the Federal Register a notice with comment period regarding changes to the methodology for calculating the increase in federal medical assistance percentages (FMAPs) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA; P.L. 111-5). Specifically, the notice changes the data months used in calculating the quarterly unemployment bonuses and requires quarterly FMAPs to be recalculated once final unemployment data is available. The notice also provides the final third quarter ARRA FMAPs for fiscal year (FY) 2009, which were determined based on the revised methodology. This change increases the third quarter FMAPs for 16 states.