Health News
- Managed-care Executives Acknowledge Problems, Say They're Trying To Fix Them
Executives of three managed-care companies who run most of the state's Medicaid program told a legislative committee yesterday that they are aware of "significant problems" with their management since they took over in November, and they are "committed...
- Legislators Hear From New Managed-care Firms; Lawmaker Rates Their Performance With A Show Of Hands From Pharmacists
Kentucky Health News The three companies recently hired to manage Kentucky's Medicaid program outside the Louisville region defended themselves yesterday against complaints that they are squeezing independent pharmacies to the breaking point. One...
- Legislators Hear About Serious Problems In Managed-care System
The switch to the new Medicaid managed-care system is proving to be a nightmare, health officials told lawmakers Wednesday, with long delays in payment to providers and treatment for patients. "It appears to me the only place the savings can come from...
- Responding To Complaints About New Managed-care Companies, State Auditor Asks For Claims Data; Lawmakers Threaten Subpoena
With complaints piling up about the three Medicaid managed-care companies that coordinate care for 560,000 poor and disabled Kentuckians, lawmakers and officials are taking action to get to the bottom of the situation. After health providers complained...
- Independent Pharmacists Say Managed Care Costs Them Money
Because two of the three new Medicaid managed-care companies have slashed the dispensing fee they will pay them, independent pharmacists are in danger of going out of business all over the state, pharmacists told the interim joint Health and Welfare Committee...
Health News
Lawmakers hear more complaints about managed care
Patients with mental illness are being denied medication, forced to try cheaper drugs that have already been proven not to work for the patient, or not getting them in time because of delays in approval. These were some of the complaints of the state's new Medicaid managed-care system, reports Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal.
"If this is how it's going to be, it is scary," Dr. Scott Haas, chief medical officer of the Bluegrass Mental Health/Mental Retardation Board, told the state Senate Health and Welfare Committee Wednesday. "It is dangerous, and it ultimately is going to cost us a lot of lives."
The testimony is the latest that highlights the weaknesses of managed care, which the state changed to on Nov. 1 to for 560,000 Medicaid recipients living outside the Louisville area. Executives of the three companies hired to provide the care ? CoventryCares of Kentucky, Kentucky Spirit Health Plan and WellCare of Kentucky ? last week pledged to do better.
The majority of yesterday's testimony focused on the system's problems in dealing with mental illness, but Deb McGrath, executive director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Kentuckiana, said she's been inundated with "complaints about delays or rejections in medications patients need to control seizures," Yetter reports. "Something has to be done," McGrath said. "It's just a vicious cycle." (Read more)
- Managed-care Executives Acknowledge Problems, Say They're Trying To Fix Them
Executives of three managed-care companies who run most of the state's Medicaid program told a legislative committee yesterday that they are aware of "significant problems" with their management since they took over in November, and they are "committed...
- Legislators Hear From New Managed-care Firms; Lawmaker Rates Their Performance With A Show Of Hands From Pharmacists
Kentucky Health News The three companies recently hired to manage Kentucky's Medicaid program outside the Louisville region defended themselves yesterday against complaints that they are squeezing independent pharmacies to the breaking point. One...
- Legislators Hear About Serious Problems In Managed-care System
The switch to the new Medicaid managed-care system is proving to be a nightmare, health officials told lawmakers Wednesday, with long delays in payment to providers and treatment for patients. "It appears to me the only place the savings can come from...
- Responding To Complaints About New Managed-care Companies, State Auditor Asks For Claims Data; Lawmakers Threaten Subpoena
With complaints piling up about the three Medicaid managed-care companies that coordinate care for 560,000 poor and disabled Kentuckians, lawmakers and officials are taking action to get to the bottom of the situation. After health providers complained...
- Independent Pharmacists Say Managed Care Costs Them Money
Because two of the three new Medicaid managed-care companies have slashed the dispensing fee they will pay them, independent pharmacists are in danger of going out of business all over the state, pharmacists told the interim joint Health and Welfare Committee...