Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Developmentally Disabled Medicaid Beneficiaries In Missouri Stranded On Wait-Lists After Funds Were Slashed
St. Louis Post Dispatch: In Missouri, People Who Can’t Speak And See Wait In Line For Help
State lawmakers cut the budget for new Medicaid waivers from $31.4 million to $8.5 million, including both state and federal funds. That $8.5 million is enough to fund about 440 waivers this fiscal year — or roughly five new clients a month like Marcus who need residential care and 30 new clients a month who need less costly, specialized support services. That’s still far fewer than the 1,300 who the state estimated will need the services. (Bogan and Erickson, 11/21)
Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Medicaid Still “Hemorrhaging” Money To Pharmacy Middlemen, Expert Testifies - News - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus, OH
A national drug-pricing consultant says that despite implementing a new pricing system and other efforts to rein in pharmacy middlemen, Ohio’s Medicaid program continues “hemorrhaging” tax dollars. “You are hemorrhaging money right now,” Linda Cahn, a critic of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, told the Joint Medicaid Oversight Commission on Thursday. PBMs hired to oversee the $3 billion-a-year drug program have contracts that allow them to increase profits rather than keeping costs down, she said. (Candisky, 11/21)
The Colorado Sun: Colorado Hospitals Accuse Polis Administration Of Hurting Medicaid Patients, As Health Fight Grows Nastier
Executives at Colorado’s largest hospital systems on Thursday sent a blistering letter to Gov. Jared Polis and the leaders of the state Medicaid agency, saying they fear the state has “lost its focus on uninsured and Medicaid patients.” The executives accused the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers Medicaid in Colorado, of creating cumbersome pre-approval processes and delays for Medicaid patients to receive care, of antiquated records-management practices, of denying patients needed care and of shorting hospitals more than $30 million on drug costs. (Ingold, 11/22)
Modern Healthcare: ProMedica Insurance Company Is Weighing Medicaid Exit In Ohio
Paramount, the insurance company owned by Toledo, Ohio-based health system ProMedica, is contemplating dropping out of Medicaid in the state after losing money in the program this year. Paramount reported an operating loss of $102.8 million in the nine months ending Sept. 30, driven by Medicaid losses which the company pinned on inadequate rates and enrollment errors. (Livingston, 11/21)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Hahnemann Closure Puts $51 Million In Medicaid Funds In Play. Will The Money Stay In Philly?
After Hahnemann University Hospital went into bankruptcy and closed this summer, a group of state senators urged the Wolf administration to redistribute the Center City institution’s subsidies for the poor and uninsured to other hospitals that serve North Philadelphia .Moving the Hahnemann money to Einstein, Jefferson, and Temple — the shift sought by Philadelphia’s State Sen. Tina Tartaglione and others to prevent cascading losses at other hospitals as they picked up indigent Hahnemann patients — sounds simple. (Brubaker, 11/21)
