Health Officials in Colorado, Oklahoma Agree Upon Reductions in Medicaid Provider Payments

The Colorado Medical Services Board on June 14 agreed upon $37 million in cuts to the state's Medicaid program, including payment reductions for pharmacists, nursing homes, hospitals and other providers, the Denver Post reports. The cuts, made in response to a directive from Gov. Bill Owens (R) that state agencies trim their budgets by 4%, are needed because the budget passed by the Legislature assumed that the state would have $250 million more in revenue than it actually does (Auge, Denver Post, 6/15). According to a letter to Medicaid providers from Karen Reinertson, executive director of the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which oversees the state's Medicaid program, nursing facilities; laboratory, X-ray and pharmacy costs; private duty nursing; psychiatric inpatient care; elderly, blind and disabled services; and home health and nonphysician providers will be affected by the cuts (CongressDaily/AM, 6/17). The $37 million reduction in the Medicaid budget is not negotiable, Reinertson said (Denver Post, 6/15).

Oklahoma Cuts Medicaid
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority last week approved a permanent 15% cut in Medicaid payments to providers, the Daily Oklahoman reports. The cut, approved in February on a temporary basis, is needed to balance the state Medicaid budget for fiscal year 2003, OHCA CEO Mike Fogarty said. OHCA also approved permanent cuts in payments to Medicare providers who treat individuals dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Under the old system, Medicare would pay 80% of services provided by doctors, and Medicaid would pick up 15% of the cost. However, under a change approved by OHCA, the state will no longer pay the 15% portion of the bill that Medicaid covers (Hinton, Daily Oklahoman, 6/14).