OIG reviews MassHealth and its Medicaid data and information system safeguards
MassHealth failed to adequately safeguard data and information systems through its Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) according to an audit by the HHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG)...
View ArticleStates try to manage expectations for Medicaid managed care
When CMS updated regulations regarding Medicaid managed care in May 2016, it was the first significant update to these regulations since 2002. Over the past year, as speakers at the American Health...
View ArticleHighlight on Pennsylvania: Better Medicaid spending through technology
Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced legislation attempting to reduce spending and improve patient care within the state’s Medicaid program. Under the proposed legislation, Senate Bill 600, the state...
View ArticleACA’s Medicaid expansion helped hospitals get paid $6B more
Hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA saw large reductions in uncompensated care between 2013 and 2015, realizing estimated savings of $6.2 billion. Overall, those states’...
View ArticleAGs request Medicaid policy change to fight in-home elderly abuse, neglect
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) estimate that one in 10 people aged 65 and over who live at home will become the victim of abuse has drawn the attention of the National...
View ArticleMedicaid’s role in low income individuals access to mental health services
Medicaid plays a significant role in providing treatment for low income individuals with mental health conditions. Medicaid recipients usage of mental health services “is comparable to and sometimes...
View ArticleCMS updates Medicaid eligibility and payment oversight programs
CMS finalized changes to the Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) and Medicaid Eligibility Quality Control (MEQC) programs designed to improve payment oversight and state eligibility determinations in...
View ArticleSenate urged not to proceed with BCRA by civil and human rights groups
One hundred sixty six civil and human rights organizations including The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Health Law Program, and the National Partnership for Women &...
View ArticleWrap-around Medicaid gives states administrative headaches
Medicaid premium assistance, where Medicaid acts as wrap-around coverage for a private health insurance plan, is administratively complex for states and may not work well. In an issue brief, the Kaiser...
View ArticleCMS grants New Hampshire Medicaid funding compliance extension
CMS has clarified that New Hampshire’s Medicaid expansion may end next year, but the current program can continue until the end of 2018. CMS stated that New Hampshire’s use of voluntary donations from...
View ArticleAHA raises concerns about proposed reductions in DSH allotments
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is urging CMS to delay the implementation of the fiscal year (FY) 2018 disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotment reductions due to significant concerns...
View ArticleHospital organizations again advocate for delay of Medicaid DSH reductions
Nine hospital organizations have urged Congress to further delay the start of Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) cuts, which are set to begin in fiscal year (FY) 2018. The organizations,...
View ArticleMedicaid and CHIP are catching uncovered kids, the ACA helps
Due to high rates of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage for young children, only 3.3 percent of children ages three and younger were uninsured in 2016. Coverage of both...
View ArticleCBO, JCT share methods for analyzing legislative proposals impacting health...
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) revealed in a recent report how they jointly analyze proposed legislation that would impact health insurance coverage for...
View ArticleRural hospitals hit hard by reductions in Medicare disbursements, declining...
Approximately 3 percent of all rural hospitals closed in the period between 2013 and 2017, which can affect rural residents’ access to health care services. The U.S. Government Accountability Office...
View ArticleStates encouraged to maintain health benefits for temporary census workers
The Acting Director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) encouraged states, to the extent permitted under the law, to exclude temporary income from employment in the 2020 Decennial...
View ArticleNational review of Medicaid opioid prescribing not yet feasible
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has determined that limitations of the national Medicaid claims database, the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS), makes a national review...
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