Medicaid

GAO Looks at MLTSS Rates, Oversight

Federal oversight of the manner in which states pay for Medicaid-covered managed long-term services and supports and of the data states use to set the rates for those services and supports is lacking, according to a new study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In a review of such practices in six states, GAO found that states are not adequately linking payments and penalties to performance toward achieving MLTSS goals for providing more care in the community and are using outdated data to set rates that federal regulations require to be “appropriate and adequate.” Learn more about what the GAO [...]

2017-02-14T06:00:38-05:00February 14, 2017|Medicaid|
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MACPAC Concerned About Prospect of Medicaid Block Grants

Members of the non-partisan legislative agency that advises Congress on Medicaid and CHIP issues expressed concern at their most recent meeting about the possibility of the federal government turning Medicaid into a block grant program. At their meeting in Washington, D.C. last week, members of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission discussed the steps they would need to take to advise policy-makers about the issues they would need to address in making such a major policy change and the possibility that such a shift would result in a reduction of funding for Medicaid over time. Learn more about [...]

2017-02-02T06:00:53-05:00February 2, 2017|Medicaid|
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MACPAC Meets, Discusses Medicaid DSH Issues

Last week the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met in Washington, D.C. to review aspects of its required March report to Congress and to address other Medicaid and CHIP issues. Included on the agenda of the meeting were: a review of chapters of the March report on Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) and monitoring of access to care; alternative approaches to state financing of their Medicaid programs; Medicaid coverage for low-income adults; and Medicaid program integrity issues. See the presentations used to help guide these discussions here, on MACPAC’s web site.

2017-02-01T06:00:51-05:00February 1, 2017|Medicaid|
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Participation in Alternative Payment Models Rises

In 2017 nearly 360,000 clinicians will participate in Medicare and Medicaid Alternative Payment Model programs sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS also reports that this year 570 accountable care organizations, including 131 that bear risk, will serve more than 12.3 million Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. In addition, nearly 3000 primary care practices will participate in advanced primary care medical home models Find more about the growth of participation in CMS’s alternative payment models, including descriptions of the different models and breakdowns in the numbers of participants, in this CMS news release.

2017-01-27T06:00:22-05:00January 27, 2017|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicare|
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Medicaid Block Grants 101

Amid a great deal of speculation about the possibility of Congress and the new Trump administration turning Medicaid into a block grant program, Kaiser Health News has taken a step back to ask the question “What does this even mean?” Among the issues the new article addresses are: how a Medicaid block program might work how block grants differ from per capita caps why block grants are so interesting and so appealing to some public officials the chances of Medicaid becoming a block grant program See the Kaiser Health News article about Medicaid block grants here.

2017-01-26T13:00:32-05:00January 26, 2017|Medicaid|
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Health Centers Rise to Medicaid Challenge

The nation’s federally funded health centers responded to the Affordable Care Act by serving more Medicaid patients than ever and improving the quality of care they provide. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, Medicaid expansion was associated with improved quality on four of eight measures examined: asthma treatment, Pap testing, body mass index assessment, and hypertension control. Learn more about how Medicaid expansion affected federally funded health centers and how those centers responded to that expansion in the study “At Federally Funded Health Centers, Medicaid Expansion Was Associated With Improved Quality Of Care,” which can [...]

2017-01-23T06:00:39-05:00January 23, 2017|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|
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Public Schools Using Telehealth

Spurred by 18 states that authorize Medicaid payments for telehealth services and another 28 that require private insurers to make such payments, more public school districts are integrating telehealth services into their school health programs. The schools are using telehealth to diagnose minor ailments, monitor chronic conditions, and authorize emergency administration of medicine in the absence of written parental permission. The use of telehealth in some school districts has reduced student trips to hospital emergency rooms and increased the rate at which children with medical problems return to the classroom. Learn more about how schools are using telehealth services to [...]

2017-01-13T06:00:06-05:00January 13, 2017|Medicaid|
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Weighing the Impact of ACA Repeal

How might repeal of the Affordable Care Act affect the financial health of different kinds of hospitals? The New York Times recently took a look at how the 2010 reform law’s repeal would affect two Pennsylvania health systems: the Temple University Health System, led by a heavily Medicaid-dependent safety-net hospital located in one of the poorest communities in the country; and Main Line Health, a non-profit organization with several hospitals all located in affluent communities. See what the Times found here.

2017-01-09T06:00:13-05:00January 9, 2017|Affordable Care Act, hospitals, Medicaid|
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