In January 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved California’s Medicaid 1115 Re-Entry Demonstration Waiver, the first waiver of its kind to be approved by the agency. CMS approved Washington’s Reentry Demonstration Initiative in the summer of 2023, and approved Re-Entry Demonstration Waivers in Montana and Massachusetts in March and April 2024, respectively. Prior to its approval, Massachusetts had submitted a waiver amendment to bring its proposal into better alignment with CMS’s State Medicaid Director Letter (SMDL), which offers guidance to states looking to provide re-entry services under Demonstration Waiver. 

An additional six states (AR, CO, CT, HI, MD, and PA) have submitted Re-Entry Demonstration Waivers, bringing the number of states with pending waivers to 19. Similar to Massachusetts, Kentucky submitted a waiver amendment to better align its proposal with CMS’s SMDL. While several states with pending Demonstration Waivers (AZ, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT) have received partial approval from CMS, their proposed re-entry service bundles within those waivers have not been approved for implementation.