State officials responsible for implementing Medicaid work requirements gathered in National Harbor, Maryland, to exchange notes on compliance strategy with fewer than 80 days remaining until the deadline. The urgency was underscored by a pre-recorded address from Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, who addressed the attendees at the National Association of Medicaid Directors fall conference. Oz urged the group to approach the task as "scientists comparing lab notes," framing the rollout as a collaborative national research project. The conference room atmosphere reflected a sense of collective pressure, with officials describing the experience as akin to a group project where participants stress about the final grade while racing against time. Throughout the day, delegates commiserated on the logistical challenges of enforcing one of the most significant changes to Medicaid in decades. The session highlighted the administrative burden placed on state agencies tasked with managing health care for 73 million Americans under the new federal directives.