Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
N.D.'s New Medicaid Management Information System Goes Live
The Bismark Tribune: New Medicaid System In North Dakota Makes October Debut
A multimillion-dollar IT project for the North Dakota Department of Human Services successfully went live this week with the question now being how much it improves services for residents. The Medicaid Management Information System project was up and running on Monday following a two-month transition period away from a more than 35-year-old system. The project went live after a series of delays and changes in scope. (Smith, 10/12)
The Texas Tribune: Texas Mulls Who Profits From Medicaid
Texas was within eight days of slashing the amount of money it pays therapists for poor and disabled children when a state district judge last month stepped in and blocked the move. It was the latest round in a high-profile legal and public relations battle that has ensued since lawmakers ordered a roughly 25 percent cut in Medicaid funding for pediatric therapy services. The conflict has mostly been cast as a battle between government budget ax wielders and helpless children, and the cuts are now in limbo at least until a January trial date. (Walters, 10/13)
Raleigh News & Observer: Taxpayer-Supported Companies Fail To Pay Workers, With Impunity
In September 2013, the state funneled more than $270,000 of taxpayer money to True Behavioral HealthCare of Gastonia – payment for counseling and coaching mentally fragile patients. The workers who delivered that care were never paid. For five weeks, more than 50 counselors, nurses and social workers toiled without wages, refusing to leave ailing clients. But when it came to protecting the caregivers, the state failed. Year after year, some private companies dependent on Medicaid funding don’t pay their employees. Mental health agencies, home health care companies and group homes accounted for more unresolved wage payment cases than any other single industry in North Carolina in fiscal year 2014, a News & Observer review of cases shows. (Locke, 10/12)
