HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana health officials are undecided on what to do two days after a judge ordered them to reinstate last year’s Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Department of Public Health and Human Services spokesman Chuck Council said Friday that health department leaders are still analyzing District Judge Jim Reynolds’ order in the lawsuit by the Montana Health Care Association and companies that own nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in the state.
Council says department officials are still determining what the course of action should be.
On Wednesday, Reynolds ordered the health department to temporarily apply last year’s reimbursement rates for nursing facilities that provide services to Medicaid patients.
The department had lowered those rates 2.99 percent in January, citing statewide spending cuts to close a budget shortfall. The nursing facilities’ lawsuit says the cuts were made in violation of state law.