HHS Approves Medicaid Funding to Maintain Outpatient Services at St. Louis Hospital, Missouri’s Application to Participate in Ticket To Work Act
HHS on Aug. 8 approved a plan by Missouri to maintain outpatient services for Medicaid beneficiaries at ConnectCare, an inner-city St. Louis hospital, which will be changed from an inpatient to an outpatient facility. The hospital, which performed some 52,000 outpatient visits last year, will receive a portion of $17 million in federal Medicaid funds to expand access to outpatient services for Medicaid beneficiaries. Under terms of the agreement, the hospital will close the six inpatient beds currently operating and will not have to completely close as previously anticipated. Some of funding will help enact future suggestions from the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, an advisory committee that will focus on a "long-range community plan to improve the general health status" of St. Louis residents. Secretary Tommy Thompson said, "By improving the delivery and coordination of outpatient care, St. Louis will be able to rely less on or costly -- and often not appropriate -- inpatient services." He added, "This is a win for the low-income people served by the program, a win for fiscal prudence and accountability and a win for states' flexibility to innovate in their Medicaid programs."
Ticket to Work
Thompson also announced the approval of a Missouri plan to continue Medicaid benefits for people with disabilities who return to work under the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Act of 1999. Missouri will use a $500,000 Medicaid Infrastructure Grant, approved by HHS last October, to establish Medicaid delivery systems needed to support the initiative (HHS release, 8/8).
