Health News
- State And Companies Were Unprepared For Quick Move To Managed Care, State Auditor Concludes
Kentucky officials and the companies in charge were unprepared for the switch to Medicaid managed care, State Auditor Adam Edelen said Wednesday. He sent the Cabinet for Health and Family Services 10 recommendations to improve the system, which provides...
- State's Medicaid Program Will Be Handled By Managed Care Companies Starting Tomorrow
Update, Nov. 1: Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of more than 250 health care organizations, individuals and advocates, released its views on the move to managed care, which they said must be as much about improving the quality of health care as...
- Move To Managed Care On Track For Oct. 1, Secretary Says
Despite a recent request to delay by an advisory council, and a low number of signups by hospitals so far, the move to managed care for Kentucky's Medicaid patients should be completed by Oct. 1. "We are prepared to proceed with an Oct. 1 timeframe,"...
- Health Secretary Tells Legislators Medicaid Budget Has Been Balanced By Moving All Beneficiaries To Managed Care
The switch to managed care organizations has fixed Kentucky's Medicaid shortfall, with Janie Miller, secretary of health and family services, calling the budget "balanced." She said the projected savings from moving to managed care will take care...
- State Awards Medicaid Managed-care Contracts To 4 Firms, Including Passport; Networks To Be Established By Oct. 1
In an effort to save $1 billion in the next three years, and fill a hole in the current state budget, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Thursday that Kentucky's Medicaid program will be run by four companies, including the beleaguered Passport Health Plan....
Health News
Feds OK managed-care Medicaid; firms advertise for enrollees
The move to managed care for Kentucky's Medicaid patients is one step further to being implemented. The federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services have approved the state's plan to have three managed-care organizations provide care for 560,000 people statewide, The Courier-Journal reports.
Services will not change for about 170,000 people in Jefferson and 15 nearby counties, who have been receiving managed care services through Passport Health Plan for several years. Local newspapers are running advertisements from the three managed-care companies seeking enrollees.
Moving to managed care is Gov. Steve Beshear's answer to fill a $166 million hole in the Medicaid budget, created by a lack of expected federal funding. The federal government pays more than 70 percent of Medicaid costs, bringing the expected savings to $1.3 billion over three years. Under a managed care model, the companies will be paid on a per-patient basis. State officials say there will be an incentive for the companies to keep costs down because the lump sum received for each patient will stay static, unlike in the fee-for-service model in which the state has paid for whatever bills are incurred. (Read more)
- State And Companies Were Unprepared For Quick Move To Managed Care, State Auditor Concludes
Kentucky officials and the companies in charge were unprepared for the switch to Medicaid managed care, State Auditor Adam Edelen said Wednesday. He sent the Cabinet for Health and Family Services 10 recommendations to improve the system, which provides...
- State's Medicaid Program Will Be Handled By Managed Care Companies Starting Tomorrow
Update, Nov. 1: Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of more than 250 health care organizations, individuals and advocates, released its views on the move to managed care, which they said must be as much about improving the quality of health care as...
- Move To Managed Care On Track For Oct. 1, Secretary Says
Despite a recent request to delay by an advisory council, and a low number of signups by hospitals so far, the move to managed care for Kentucky's Medicaid patients should be completed by Oct. 1. "We are prepared to proceed with an Oct. 1 timeframe,"...
- Health Secretary Tells Legislators Medicaid Budget Has Been Balanced By Moving All Beneficiaries To Managed Care
The switch to managed care organizations has fixed Kentucky's Medicaid shortfall, with Janie Miller, secretary of health and family services, calling the budget "balanced." She said the projected savings from moving to managed care will take care...
- State Awards Medicaid Managed-care Contracts To 4 Firms, Including Passport; Networks To Be Established By Oct. 1
In an effort to save $1 billion in the next three years, and fill a hole in the current state budget, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Thursday that Kentucky's Medicaid program will be run by four companies, including the beleaguered Passport Health Plan....