New Hampshire Governor Signs Bill That Will Give $14.8M To Medicaid for Provider Payments

New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) on May 16 signed into law a bill (SB 456) that will funnel $14.8 million into the state's Medicaid program to pay providers and prevent cuts in services, the Associated Press reports (Associated Press, 5/16). The legislation will allow the state Department of Health and Human Services to use $11.8 million to pay physicians, hospitals, community health centers and community mental health centers. It also allows the Department of Children, Youth and Families to spend $3 million to settle lawsuits over claims that it failed to provide "adequate protective services" to children (Haberman, Portsmouth Herald, 5/7). The money would come from a claim submitted by state officials to the federal government alleging that New Hampshire is owed more than $50 million in unpaid Medicaid funds that resulted from a recalculation of federal payment rates in 2000 (Baker, Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/21). If the claim is not granted by Dec. 1, the state will draw $14.8 million out of its Health Care Transition Fund and replenish the fund if the claim is granted at a later date (SB 456 text). Earlier this year, lawmakers "could not come to agreement" on a bill that would have taken $17.5 million outright from the Health Care Transition Fund to fund Medicaid. State HHS Commissioner Donald Shumway said that without additional Medicaid funding, reimbursements to hospitals would have been cut immediately and payments to mental health facilities and pharmacies would have ended May 31. State Sen. Burt Cohen (D) added, "There would have been closures of health care centers and it would have put the least fortunate and most vulnerable people of the state at risk." State Rep. Rogers Johnson (R) said that "no services will be cut," even if the state does not receive the federal money (Portsmouth Herald, 5/7).