Deep Cuts To Texas’ Children’s Therapy Services On Temporary Hold After Judge’s Decision

The Houston Press: Judge Halts $350M In Cuts To Children's Therapy Services
After therapy providers and families with disabled children filed a second lawsuit against the state for the deep cuts it has ordered to Medicaid therapy services, a judge has halted the cuts from going through on October 1, as the Texas Tribune reported Tuesday evening. The lawsuit claims the Texas Health and Human Services Commission did not consider how $350 million in cuts to occupational, physical and speech therapy services over two years would affect the actual people at stake — including children with autism, cerebral palsy, severe brain damage, spina bifida and feeding disorders, among others — and all of the therapists who serve them. The therapists faced cuts to their reimbursement rates of roughly 20 percent. It was estimated the cuts would put 60,000 kids at risk of losing access to care. And State District Judge Tim Sulak said he chose to temporarily block those cuts from going through out of concern for those young patients. (Flynn, 9/23)

The Star-Telegram: State Botched Cuts In Medicaid Therapy
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission argues that cutting $350 million from a therapy program for poor and disabled children won’t harm those children, but it has little to back up that counter-intuitive theory. So when faced with the challenge of convincing an Austin judge of its argument this week, the commission’s lawyer chose the straightforward approach: make fun of the therapy providers and families of disabled children who say their kids will be harmed, then simply say it won’t happen. (9/23)

The Associated Press: Medicaid Overhaul In North Carolina Now Officially Law
Gov. Pat McCrory says his signature on far-reaching Medicaid legislation is just the beginning of a years-long process to transform the health care program that serves more than one in six North Carolina residents. McCrory signed a Medicaid overhaul bill into law during a ceremony Wednesday at the Executive Mansion, surrounded by legislators who helped negotiate the law. Also there was Rick Brajer, the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which will carry it out. (9/23)

Other state Medicaid news comes from Florida and Massachusetts -

The Miami Herald: Group Rates Florida's Medicaid HMOs Average, But State Lauds Quality Of Care
Most of the private companies managing Florida’s Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people ranked at the national average on patient satisfaction, preventive care and medical treatment in 2014, according to a recently released comparative rating of plans. But the ratings excluded six of the 13 private insurers in Florida’s Medicaid program during 2014 because those health plans either failed to report data or submitted insufficient information to the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a nonprofit that rates and accredits health plans. (Chang, 9/23)

Boston Globe: State, Feds To Increase Payments To Health Program For Poor And Disabled
State and federal officials will raise payments for a troubled program to insure some of Massachusetts’ sickest and poorest residents. The pilot program, known as One Care, lost $54 million in its first 18 months, the Globe reported in August. One Care covers people struggling with poverty and disabilities who qualify for both Medicare, the government program that covers the elderly and disabled, and Medicaid, which covers low-income families and individuals. State officials said they would boost payments by 8.6 percent this year, and more than 10.5 percent in 2016, as part of a revised payment structure designed to help stabilize the program. Together, the state and federal government will spend nearly $48 million on One Care over the next two years. The bulk of the funding is federal. (Dayal McCluskey, 9/23)