RFK Jr. ends mandatory vaccine reporting for Medicaid and CHIP providers
By lauraharris // 2026-01-04
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  • HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed requirements for Medicaid and CHIP providers to report patients' immunization status.
  • CMS dropped pediatric, adolescent and prenatal vaccination tracking measures from the 2026 and 2027 Core Quality Measurement Sets.
  • Kennedy said the change protects informed consent, religious liberty and medical freedom, ending what he described as coercive reporting practices.
  • States may continue submitting immunization data voluntarily while CMS evaluates alternative approaches to vaccine-related metrics.
  • CMS plans to develop future measures centered on informed vaccine decision-making and religious exemptions, while also adding voluntary adult measures on hepatitis testing and diabetes-related oral health.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ended the requirement for health care providers to report patients' immunization status under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, mandatory vaccine reporting in the U.S., enforced through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, requires healthcare providers to report all vaccine administrations to state immunization registries. The Affordable Care Act also mandates insurers to report vaccine administration data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Additionally, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program requires healthcare providers to report serious adverse events following immunization to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). However, in the new guidance issued by the CMS on Dec. 30, several pediatric and prenatal immunization status measures that states were previously required to report were removed. The letter, which details updates to the 2026 and 2027 Child and Adult Core Health Care Quality Measurement Sets, eliminated measures, including Childhood Immunization Status, Immunizations for Adolescents and Prenatal Immunization Status for both patients under 21 and adults. These measures had been used to track vaccination rates among children, adolescents and pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Kennedy said, "Government bureaucracies should never coerce doctors or families into accepting vaccines or penalize physicians for respecting patient choice. That practice ends now." He added that the HHS will "protect informed consent, respect religious liberty and uphold medical freedom." CMS clarified that Kennedy has discretion under the Social Security Act to modify the Core Sets to "improve and strengthen" quality reporting and exercised that authority to remove immunization-related measures. Although the immunization measures are no longer part of the Core Sets, CMS said states may still voluntarily submit the data to help the agency maintain long-term datasets while it considers alternative approaches.

CMS shifts vaccine metrics toward informed consent

CMS said it will begin exploring new vaccine-related measures in 2026 and beyond that, focus on whether parents and families were informed about vaccine options, safety, side effects and alternative schedules. The agency also plans to examine how religious exemptions can be reflected in future data collection. The updated guidance emphasizes that CMS does not tie Medicaid or CHIP payments to immunization quality measures at the federal level and strongly discourages states from linking vaccination data to payment incentives in state-run programs. Beyond immunization changes, the letter also outlines broader updates to the Core Sets, including the addition of two voluntary Adult Core Set measures focused on hepatitis testing and diabetes-related oral health, as well as the retirement of measures related to tobacco cessation and asthma medication use. States are required to submit mandatory Core Set data for 2027 by Dec. 31, 2027. CMS said the Quality Measure Reporting system will open in September 2027, with additional technical guidance to be released earlier that year. CMS said it issued the guidance early to give states more time to prepare, while noting that further changes could be made if public health concerns or measurement issues arise. Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield says RFK Jr. will be "the most consequential health secretary ever." Watch this video.
This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com. Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com MedicAid.gov X.com BrightU.ai Brighteon.com
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