Federal administrators want Iowa to wait 60 days before shifting its Medicaid program to private management.
The delay would affect more than 500,000 poor or disabled Iowans who receive health care under the program. Gov. Terry Branstad has been pushing to transfer management to for-profit managed-care companies on Jan. 1.
Federal officials have heard from hundreds of Iowa critics who say Branstad is rushing to make the switch before the managed-care companies are ready. One of the main complaints has been that Iowa Medicaid participants were supposed to decide by Thursday which of the four managed-care plans to choose, even though they didn’t have much information about which plans their doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers would participate in.
Branstad needs federal permission, because the federal government pays more than half the cost of Medicaid. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrators made their position known Thursday in a letter to the state’s Medicaid director, Mikki Stier.
“Based on our review last week of Iowa’s progress, as well as the information you have provided, CMS expects that we will ultimately be able to approve Iowa’s managed care waivers. However, we do not believe that Iowa is ready to make this transition Jan. 1,” the letter says. “CMS previously outlined the requirements to provide high quality, accessible care to Medicaid beneficiaries, and Iowa has not yet met those requirements, meaning that a transition on January 1 would risk serious disruptions in care for Medicaid beneficiaries.”
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...elay-medicaid-privatization-60-days/77495488/
The delay would affect more than 500,000 poor or disabled Iowans who receive health care under the program. Gov. Terry Branstad has been pushing to transfer management to for-profit managed-care companies on Jan. 1.
Federal officials have heard from hundreds of Iowa critics who say Branstad is rushing to make the switch before the managed-care companies are ready. One of the main complaints has been that Iowa Medicaid participants were supposed to decide by Thursday which of the four managed-care plans to choose, even though they didn’t have much information about which plans their doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers would participate in.
Branstad needs federal permission, because the federal government pays more than half the cost of Medicaid. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrators made their position known Thursday in a letter to the state’s Medicaid director, Mikki Stier.
“Based on our review last week of Iowa’s progress, as well as the information you have provided, CMS expects that we will ultimately be able to approve Iowa’s managed care waivers. However, we do not believe that Iowa is ready to make this transition Jan. 1,” the letter says. “CMS previously outlined the requirements to provide high quality, accessible care to Medicaid beneficiaries, and Iowa has not yet met those requirements, meaning that a transition on January 1 would risk serious disruptions in care for Medicaid beneficiaries.”
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...elay-medicaid-privatization-60-days/77495488/
