Ohio Providers Concerned About Slowdown in Medicaid Payments

Ohio hospitals are concerned that their "bottom lines" may be hurt by a "cash management strategy" that state Medicaid officials have instituted, Business First of Columbus reports. Hoping to keep payments down, the state Department of Job and Family Services, which administers Medicaid, recently decided to slow payments to providers participating in a smaller Medicaid initiative called the Disability Assistance Medical program (Bell, Business First of Columbus, 5/31). The program offers assistance for certain health services, such as medications, to individuals with a disability (Disability Assistance Web site). Jobs and Family Services department spokesperson John Allen said, "We want to make sure we stay within our state allocation for the fiscal year (which ends June 30)," adding, "We are paying those bills on time so there are no interest charges but not as immediate as we've done in the past." The department typically pays electronic claims within two weeks; claims held more than 30 days are assessed an interest charge. Allen said that the "vast majority" of Medicaid payments to providers are not supposed to be affected by the slowdown. But Charles Cataline, director of health policy for the Ohio Hospital Association, said that the new policy has led to some Medicaid payments to hospitals being delayed. Noting that the fiscal years of some hospitals end June 30, Allen said that the delayed payments "could have an effect on how people review [hospitals'] year-end performance." The state's hospitals receive more than $1 billion per year in Medicaid payments. Nursing homes, which receive the most Medicaid funding -- $2 billion -- in the state, have not been affected by the payment slowdown, Peter Van Runkle, CEO of the Ohio Health Care Association, an organization of long-term care providers, said. But pharmacies, especially those that prescribe a high number of drugs through the disability assistance program, are concerned that the slowdown could affect them, Ernie Boyd, executive director of the Ohio Pharmacists Association, said. "We can be talking about thousands of bucks a week. If pharmacies do a lot of those particular patients, they're toast," he added (Business First of Columbus, 6/3).