Soundtrack for today’s RoundUp pessimist readers- http://bit.ly/1UGzggU
Or you can click the one for optimist readers – http://bit.ly/1UGznci
BEAVER STATE 1115 ON SCHEDULE- Oregon will be submitting more of a continuation waiver than major changes for its Care Coordination Organization (CCO) model. The first major report on the CCOs for the state will be July 1 this year, with the waiver renewal application timed for late summer. According to the Good Guvn’r Brown, she wants to get it approved before the White House changes hands. Maybe she knows something we don’t?
BUCKEYE STATE GETS NOD FROM THE BIG HOUSE- Ohio just got CMS approval for their plan to move nursing home residents back into the community. OH has been doing this already, with 8,000 residents driving away in a U-Haul with crying nursing administrators staring at tail lights.
NATURAL STATE ADDS 25,000 TO THE ROLLS SINCE FEB- Despite all the legislative brinksmanship this spring, AR still found a way to grow the expansion rolls to 290,000.
SOONER STATE DOCS DODGE A BULLET- It was dire and desperate in OK up until last week. Medicaid providers faced a 25% rate cut. But somehow, magically – no miraculously – state legislators were able to give Medicaid $99M more this year compared to last. Amidst a $1.3B state budget shortfall. I truly am in the right line of business. Medicaid, you need way more money every year? Sure thing! Education, roads, everybody else – sorry!
PEACH STATE WARMS UP TO THE SUGAR MONEY- State Senator Renee Unterman shot down ACA expansion cash, but is now suggesting (on the state senate floor) that GA should consider doing an 1115-style expansion instead.
HOOSIER STATE CLAIMS “THE TEACHER DOESN’T LIKE ME”- IN got an emergency approval of its “conservative” (reads – not nearly as far left as the administration likes) Medicaid expansion plan this April. Now CMS is surveying members to see how they like the “conservative” approach, and IN says the surveys are biased against their model. And it sort of matters beyond IN – states like AZ, KY and OH would like to get them one of those new-fangled “conservative” Medicaid expansions, too. Who knew Medicaid could be so political? I thought it was just healthcare, right? The main Hoosier complaint is that there are plenty of questions about why you might be dissatisfied with the plan, but none asking why you are satisfied with it. Apparently question #17 had some rattled. The survey question reads: “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Republican party?”
FARRIS’S FANTASTIC FRAUD FOLLIES– And now for everybody’s favorite paragraph. Let’s start the ticker and see who wins this week’s award. Barbara Sadler and Sedric Blakes of “Extraordinary Care Network” were convicted on a $1.2M Medicaid fraud charge this week in Baton Rouge, LA. Their crimes? Billing for one on one therapy that didn’t happen, forging signatures and fabricating client progress notes. Jennifer Green and Andria Jones of Jackson, MS got popped this week for a $1M fraud in which they got paid for bogus counseling claims. Candia Tolbert, who operated “No Child Left Behind Behavioral Health Services,” was convicted this week on $100k for false claims. Congratulations Barb and Sedric – you win by a hair, just barely beating out Jennifer and Andria.
REMINDER – NO STATE SPOTLIGHT SHOW THIS MONTH, BUT STILL DOING THE NEWS ROUNDTABLE SHOW– I know people plan their weddings and other things around those, so just trying to get the word out.
That’s it for this week. As always, please send me a note with your thoughts to clay@mostlymedicaid.com or give me a buzz at 919.727.9231. Get outside (the sun is up earlier now!) and keep running the race (you know who you are).
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