The federal officials on Thursday said they don’t think Iowa is completely ready for transition of $5 billion Medicaid program to managed care on January 1. They said that the shift delayed to March 1 will be the suitable option.

According to a letter to Iowa Medicaid Director Mikki Stier, “The CMS expects that we will ultimately be able to approve Iowa’s managed-care waivers. However, we do not believe that Iowa is ready to make that transition on January 1”.

The plan to shift Iowa’s $5 billion Medicaid system to four out-of-state private care companies for the first was introduced by Gov. Terry Branstad earlier this year. The state in August awarded contracts to Amerigroup Iowa, AmeroiHealth Caritas Iowa, UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley and WellCare of Iowa.

CMS Director Vikki Wachino told Stier in the December 17 letter that although the state has made progress in some areas, it still found some gaps in Iowa while carrying out readiness reviews.

CMS said in a statement that the capability of the (managed-care organizations’) provider networks will determine whether individuals have access to care, which in turn is paramount to their health, safety and well-being.

Aaron Albright, a spokesman for CMS, said the federal agency will continue to work with Iowa toward approval of its waiver. Mathis and Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City in a joint statement asked the state legislators to make correcting ‘Branstad’s mistake’ their top priority in the 2016 legislative session.