States Report Savings In Medicaid Test Coordinating Health, Social Services

USA Today:
Study: States Get Big Medicaid Savings From Social Services, Outreach To Sickest Patients

Some states have achieved dramatic savings in health care costs for their sickest Medicaid patients by providing intensive one-on-one assistance and social services that help the patients better address their multiple, overlapping ailments. A report out Tuesday by the National Governors Association found states may be able to save more than $2 for every dollar they spend dealing with these so-called health care super-utilizers’ more basic social needs. (O’Donnell, 12/5)

Des Moines Register:
Iowa Medicaid Recipients Mean ‘More Than A Dollar Sign,’ Emotional Crowd Tells State

Dozens of exasperated family and caregivers of Iowa’s most disabled and elderly spoke publicly Tuesday night of what some called a “nightmare”: a state decision last year to transfer Medicaid management to for-profit companies. The private companies are denying critical care, failing to properly notify Medicaid recipients of their basic appeal rights and often nonresponsive to serious questions, those who spoke from a crowd of more than 200 at Des Moines’ downtown library told state officials. (Clayworth, 12/5)

The CT Mirror:
Legislators To Rethink Medicare Savings Program Cuts

John “Sean” Riccio sat on his power scooter outside the Legislative Office Building holding a large white sign that read “Please Don’t Cut My Medicaid.” Riccio, 52, had driven to Hartford from his home in Suffield Monday to protest cuts to the state Medicare Savings Program that uses Medicaid money to help pay his Medicare costs. Come Jan. 1, roughly 86,000 enrollees will no longer be eligible for the program because the income eligibility limits were lowered with passage of the $41.3 billion state budget in October. (Rigg, 12/5)

New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Louisiana Lawmakers Can Take Another Medicaid Contract Vote — If They Want

Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration told the Louisiana House leadership Tuesday (Dec. 5) it can have another crack at approving $15.4 billion worth of state Medicaid contract extensions next week if it wants. But the governor will continue to circumvent the Legislature and put the contracts in place anyway if the House doesn’t act. … Edwards has been struggling for a month to get the five large contracts past the House members on the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. The agreements are with private companies who oversee health care coverage for 90 percent of Medicaid recipients in Louisiana and are worth a quarter of the state’s entire operating budget. They are supposed to kick in Feb. 1 and last 23 months. (O’Donoghue, 12/5)

Wisconsin Public Radio:
Walker Wants To Continue Medicaid Expansion Begun Under ACA

Wisconsin’s partial expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act is set to expire at the end of next year. State officials are asking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — for an extension, allowing the state to continue the program for another five years. On Tuesday, the state Department of Health Services held the first of two public hearings on the issue in Janesville. The other will be Thursday in Green Bay. (Miller, 12/5)

Madison (Wis.) Capital Times:
State Medicaid Director Michael Heifetz Resigning

Michael Heifetz is resigning as state Medicaid director “to pursue career opportunities in the private sector,” the state Department of Health Services said Tuesday. Heifetz, who became Medicaid director in October 2016, previously served as state budget director starting in 2013 and worked before that in government affairs for Dean Clinic and SSM Health of Wisconsin. (Wahlberg, 12/6)

MLive:
Priority Health’s Money-Saving Move Will Be Hard On Some Medicaid Patients

Maple Valley is one of at least 15 pharmacies that have been cut out of Priority Health’s new pharmacy network for [Michigan] Medicaid patients. The new pharmacy rules are part of the Grand Rapids-based healthcare insurer’s efforts to respond to limited Medicaid funding. Pharmacy costs are a major contributor to the overall cost of health care, said Amy Miller, Priority Health spokeswoman. Drug costs went up just over 11 percent last year, and are on pace to climb even higher in 2017. (Martinez, 12/5)