Millions of people are dependent for their health care on one of the governments largest social programs, Medicaid. But taxpayers who fund that program need assurance the program of is as free as possible from waste, fraud and abuse.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced recently a new rule that is designed to give the program more transparency and less waste.

The new rule is titled the “2019 Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation,” and it is designed to “help ensure that state supplemental payments and financing arrangements are transparent and value-driven.”

“The last several years have seen a rapid increase in Medicaid spending from $456 billion in 2013 to an estimated $576 billion in 2016. Much of the growth came from the federal share that grew from $263 billion to an estimated $363 billion during the same period,” CMS said.

In addition, supplemental payments, or additional payments to providers beyond the base Medicaid payment for particular services, have steadily increased from 9.4 percent of all other payments in FY 2010 to 17.5 percent in FY 2017.

With this significant growth comes on urgent responsibility to ensure sound stewardship and oversight of the Medicaid program.

Currently, CMS lacks available and timely and adequate State Medicaid payment and financing data to enable the most effective oversight of the Medicaid program.

Through this proposed rule, CMS continues its commitment to strengthening the oversight and fiscal integrity of the Medicaid program.

In addition, CMS has determined that the agency does not always have adequate information to always properly determine when a state is financing its state share of Medicaid expenditures from impermissible sources or otherwise making inappropriate payments.

Also, oversight agencies have made recommendations to CMS to better oversee and understand Medicaid supplemental payments, disproportionate share hospital payments and associated non-federal share.

The major highlights of the rule are: Improve reporting on supplemental payments; clarify Medicaid financing definitions; and reduce questionable financing mechanisms.

The government owes it to both the users of these programs, as well as the taxpayers, to run these big government programs with the utmost honesty and efficiency.