Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Kansas Lawmakers Press Officials, Contractor On Medicaid Application Backlog
Wichita (Kan.) Eagle: Lawmakers Meet To Discuss Medicaid Backlog
Lawmakers say they have received a flood of phone calls from residents who are fed up with how long it’s taking the state to process applications for Medicaid, the insurance program for people with low incomes or who are disabled. ... Mounting problems with the state’s backlog of Medicaid applications prompted Thursday’s meeting of the KanCare Oversight Committee. State officials told lawmakers Thursday that 3,587 applicants have been waiting 45 days or longer. That’s down from the 10,961 who had been waiting for that amount of time in mid-May. (Dunn, 8/4)
Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal: Kansas Lawmakers Grill KDHE Secretary, KanCare Contractor Over Backlog: 'This Is Life And Death'
Several lawmakers bemoaned the onerous application process for Medicaid benefits. “It’s a 200-page application process for long-term care services. Two-hundred pages,” said Sen. Jim Denning, R-Overland Park. “So it’s going to be a horrible process no matter how you skin the cat.” Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, said she needed more than a week to complete an application for her daughter. She questioned why the state doesn’t have navigators — similar to those created under the Affordable Care Act — to help people complete their applications. (Wingerter, 8/4)
Kansas Health Institute: Legislators Seek Answers From Contractor On Medicaid Application Backlog
Legislators grilled a state contractor Thursday about problems with the Medicaid application process and the backlog that has thousands of Kansans waiting for coverage. ... The contractor’s explanations for the backlog were not new: the rocky rollout last summer of a new computer system to process the applications coupled with an ill-timed administrative change that funneled all applications through the Clearinghouse. (Marso, 8/4)
Kansas Health Institute: Community Mental Health Centers Report Issues With Medicaid Payments
[Brenda Mills, CEO of Family Service and Guidance Center, a Topeka-based community mental health center that serves children,] told committee members that some of the three private insurance companies that run KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, had raised objections to the center’s psychosocial treatment practices. ... The insurance companies, also known as managed care organizations or MCOs, have authority to look for outliers in prescribing patterns, which is appropriate, Mills said. But she said some MCOs flagged a problem when they saw an increase in psychosocial treatment during the summer — which reflects the fact that children aren’t in school and are available for more intensive therapy. (Hart, 8/4)
Iowa Public Radio: Four Months In, Medicaid Transition Still Bumpy
Pat Giorgio anticipated some problems with the transition of state-run Medicaid to three private management companies, but she didn't quite anticipate the breadth and depth of the woes the transition would cause for Evergreen Estates, residential communities she founded to serve the elderly in Cedar Rapids."Because I heard that it might be a difficult transition, I got a line of credit with my bankers of $100,000. I'm billing roughly $40-50,000 a month to Home and Community Based Services, and I've used up that $100,000 in my line of credit." ... Giorgio says before the transition she was paid in eight days or so. Now, she says, 15 percent of her claims from three months ago have not been paid. (Roth and Kieffer, 8/4)
Modern Healthcare: Alabama Medicaid Budget Shortfall Risks Losing Patients, Doctors And Waiver
A budget impasse in Alabama is beginning to delay healthcare for children and Medicaid beneficiaries in the state.This past spring, the state's Legislature overrode Gov. Robert Bentley's veto and appropriated $700 million to Alabama's Medicaid program. That was $85 million less than what the Republican governor had requested based on what the agency said it needed to maintain services. (Dickson, 8/4)
Health News Florida/Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Dental Bus Helps Fill Medicaid Coverage Gap
A Florida Department of Health study says the state ranked 11th highest in the country in the percentage of third-graders with untreated tooth decay. Some groups in Manatee County got together to take on the problem themselves. Today, the mobile dental unit, called the “dental bus” is parked in the parking lot of Morton Clark Head Start preschool in Bradenton, but it's driven where it's needed. The bus is an extension of MCR Health Services, a federally-supported group of clinics that treat low-income patients in Manatee, DeSoto and Sarasota counties. (Miller, Clark and O'Hara, 8/4)
