Health News
- Medicaid Managed-care Firms Get New Contracts With New Rules Aimed At Resolving Health-care Providers' Issues With Program
Kentucky has signed new contracts with five managed-care firms that will manage Medicaid coverage for more than 1.1 million Kentuckians. Contracts were awarded to Anthem, Coventry Cares, Humana, Passport and Wellcare. Kentucky changed Medicaid to managed...
- Beshear Vetoes Prompt-pay Bill But Takes Several Steps To Address Problems In Medicaid; He And Haynes Say It's Working
Gov. Steve Beshear has vetoed the bill designed to make Medicaid managed-care firms pay health-care providers more quickly, but is taking administrative steps to address the issue. Beshear said he agreed with the intent of House Bill 5 but it might have...
- Haynes: Medicaid Case Managers Threatened, And More Bumps Ahead, But State Beginning To See Advantages Of New System
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Some Medicaid case managers' lives have been threatened because they have tried to get Medicaid patients to go to primary-care doctors instead of emergency rooms, Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Haynes...
- Despite Problems, Managed Care Saved State $190 Million In Six Months, Official Says
Though there have been plenty of bumps in the state's move to managed care for 820,000 Kentuckians on Medicaid, Health and Family Services Cabinet Secretary Audrey Haynes told lawmakers Wednesday it has saved the state $190 million in just...
- Beshear Names Audrey Haynes Secretary Of Embattled Cabinet For Health And Family Services
Audrey Tayse Haynes, who is a social worker by training but knows her way around politics, government and the nonprofit world, will be the new secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. She will replace Janie Miller, who resigned...
Health News
Haynes asks hospitals for a truce as they and state work through problems with managed-care Medicaid
Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Haynes won a smattering of applause from Kentucky hospital officials Thursday as she called for "not a surrender, but a truce" as her cabinet continues to address the hospitals' complaints about the state's managed-care system for Medicaid, which recently entered its third year.
Haynes drew the ire of hospitals last month when she said some needed to change their business models to emphasize prevention and wellness, not cashing in on Medicaid payments for emergency-room care. Thursday, she said in a speech to the Kentucky Hospital Association in Louisville that she wants "to work more closely together, not only to improve your business practices," but to improve the health of Kentucky.
Haynes also called on the hospitals to join Appalachian Regional Healthcare and the University of Kentucky hospital in contacting past patients who lacked insurance and urge them to sign up for expanded Medicaid or private insurance on the state's Kynect website, under federal health reform. "I need your help," she said. "we're very excited about the opportunity for dramatic improvements in Kentucky's health status."
Also at the meeting, state Rep. Jimmie Lee, D-Elizabethtown, the House's health-care budget subcommittee chair, said he thought Haynes and the administration of Gov. Steve Beshear had largely resolved the "prompt pay" problems of hospitals not getting money they are owed by insurance companies. But Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chair Julie Denton, R-Louisville, called for more action on the subject, such as an independent review panel to review disputed claims.
Haynes drew the ire of hospitals last month when she said some needed to change their business models to emphasize prevention and wellness, not cashing in on Medicaid payments for emergency-room care. Thursday, she said in a speech to the Kentucky Hospital Association in Louisville that she wants "to work more closely together, not only to improve your business practices," but to improve the health of Kentucky.
Haynes also called on the hospitals to join Appalachian Regional Healthcare and the University of Kentucky hospital in contacting past patients who lacked insurance and urge them to sign up for expanded Medicaid or private insurance on the state's Kynect website, under federal health reform. "I need your help," she said. "we're very excited about the opportunity for dramatic improvements in Kentucky's health status."
Also at the meeting, state Rep. Jimmie Lee, D-Elizabethtown, the House's health-care budget subcommittee chair, said he thought Haynes and the administration of Gov. Steve Beshear had largely resolved the "prompt pay" problems of hospitals not getting money they are owed by insurance companies. But Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chair Julie Denton, R-Louisville, called for more action on the subject, such as an independent review panel to review disputed claims.
- Medicaid Managed-care Firms Get New Contracts With New Rules Aimed At Resolving Health-care Providers' Issues With Program
Kentucky has signed new contracts with five managed-care firms that will manage Medicaid coverage for more than 1.1 million Kentuckians. Contracts were awarded to Anthem, Coventry Cares, Humana, Passport and Wellcare. Kentucky changed Medicaid to managed...
- Beshear Vetoes Prompt-pay Bill But Takes Several Steps To Address Problems In Medicaid; He And Haynes Say It's Working
Gov. Steve Beshear has vetoed the bill designed to make Medicaid managed-care firms pay health-care providers more quickly, but is taking administrative steps to address the issue. Beshear said he agreed with the intent of House Bill 5 but it might have...
- Haynes: Medicaid Case Managers Threatened, And More Bumps Ahead, But State Beginning To See Advantages Of New System
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Some Medicaid case managers' lives have been threatened because they have tried to get Medicaid patients to go to primary-care doctors instead of emergency rooms, Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Haynes...
- Despite Problems, Managed Care Saved State $190 Million In Six Months, Official Says
Though there have been plenty of bumps in the state's move to managed care for 820,000 Kentuckians on Medicaid, Health and Family Services Cabinet Secretary Audrey Haynes told lawmakers Wednesday it has saved the state $190 million in just...
- Beshear Names Audrey Haynes Secretary Of Embattled Cabinet For Health And Family Services
Audrey Tayse Haynes, who is a social worker by training but knows her way around politics, government and the nonprofit world, will be the new secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. She will replace Janie Miller, who resigned...