Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Congress Facing Deadline For Another Health Program -- This One For Children
The Hill: Congress Facing Deadline To Renew Healthcare For Children
Congress is approaching a healthcare deadline with enormous stakes for millions of people — and this time it isn't about ObamaCare. Federal funding for 9 million low- and middle-income children is set to expire at the end of September, setting up a crucial deadline for a Congress already grappling with other high-stakes battle. The looming deadline for the Children's Health Insurance Program has been overshadowed by the GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare, and lawmakers left town for the summer without addressing the issue. (Roubein and Weixel, 8/25)
Arkansas Times Record: Arkansas DHS Looks To Streamline Medicaid Oversight
The Arkansas Department of Human Services plans an internal reorganization of the DHS that will shift 171 employees to a newly created division, impact more than 40 DHS contracts and streamline the agency’s oversight of thousands of Medicaid providers across the state, its director announced Thursday. DHS Director Cindy Gillespie said DHS administrators realized upon reviewing their requirements last fall that there was an “astounding” degree of redundancy and determined a need to “make this a more streamlined, effective operation.” (Hardy, 8/25)
Arkansas Matters: DHS Announces New 'One-Stop Shop' Division For Medicaid Providers And Clients
With information siloed in single divisions, DHS employees were not able to share information across the board to address problems in programs operated by Medicaid providers, while providers and clients were not able to easily find information about the quality of care and services. Gillespie said DPSQA will improve everything from background checks to inspections to online reports. "This will be a huge shift for providers in their regular dealings with DHS," she said. (Turnure, 8/24)
Arkansas Online: DHS Unit To Oversee Medicaid Providers
The new division will allow the department to more easily coordinate investigations into occurrences such as the June 12 death of a 5-year-old boy who was left in a van at an Ascent Children's Health Services day care in West Memphis, department officials said. That facility is monitored as a provider of health services to children and had also provided Medicaid-funded nonemergency medical transportation. It also is licensed by the department's Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education. That division's inspectors, who monitor child care centers, won't move to the new division, however. (Davis, 8/25)
Georgia Health News: Community Health Asks For Extra Millions For Medicaid
The state’s main health care agency is requesting an additional $36 million for the current fiscal year and an extra $203 million for fiscal 2019. ... The board of the state Department of Community Health on Thursday approved those funding requests, which would be added to the base agency budget of $14.8 billion (most of that amount is federal money). Now they go to the governor’s office for consideration. (Miller, 8/24)
Sante Fe New Mexican: State: Security Issues With Medicaid System Have Been Fixed Since Feds Found Holes
A federal inspector general says the computer system behind New Mexico’s Medicaid program fell short of the U.S. government’s security requirements during a review that found data was left vulnerable and operations were put at risk. A report released last week by the top watchdog at the U.S. Health and Human Services Department did not find evidence that anyone had used the vulnerabilities to break into the state’s health insurance program for low-income people. ... A spokesman for the New Mexico Human Services Department, which manages the program, said Wednesday that “all issues regarding Medicaid data highlighted by the auditors have since been resolved.” (Oxford, 8/24)
