On April 6, U.S. District Court Judge Eric Tostrud issued a decision in Minnesota v. Oz. The case was triggered by CMS’s deferral of $259 million in federal matching funds from the Minnesota Medicaid program on February 25. In response, the State filed suit on March 2 asking the court to block the CMS action and to require it to release $245 million of the funds to the State. After a hearing on March 12, Judge Tostrud denied the State’s request, leaving CMS free to continue with the deferral (and perhaps to defer additional funds). But the Judge did not dismiss the case, and the State may live to fight another day. “At least at this stage,” he concluded, “Minnesota has not shown that Defendants have failed to follow the rule of law.”
The context for this decision is complicated. There’s the compliance action that CMS took against Minnesota on January 6 to withhold half a…
Treat every unsolicited “urgent” communication from a bank or government agency as a potential “Vishing” or “Smishing” attack, regardless of how official the branding or phone number appears.