HHS’ Approval of Two-Year Extension of Colorado Medicaid Managed Mental Health Plan Leads Health Policy Report’s Medicaid Round Up
The following briefly summarizes recent Medicaid news from Colorado, Maine and Iowa:
Colorado's Mental Health Waiver Extended
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on announced April 18 the approval of Colorado's request to extend the state's Medicaid Mental Health Capitation and Managed Care waiver for an additional two years. The program, which allows the state to provide Medicaid beneficiaries with mental health services through managed care, refers patients to a provider and then "monitors the quality of care." While the renewal extends the program until April 2003, the approval remains contingent on the state assuming an "even more active role" in overseeing the program. Under the agreement, Colorado will conduct customer satisfaction surveys, implement a "timeline" to handle complaints and become "more active" in monitoring services designed for children with special needs (HHS release, 4/18).
Maine's Formulary Saves Medicaid $2.5M
After three months of operating with a drug formulary, which requires doctors to substitute generics or the least-expensive brand-name drugs when writing prescriptions, Maine's Medicaid program has saved about $2.5 million, even though the number of Medicaid patients grew 21%. If the lower cost drugs fail,
