The Florida Current: Florida asks to extend Medicaid reform experiment for another month; AHCA Deputy Medicaid Secretary Phil Williams said he expects extension to be granted

The Florida Current provides a timely update on Florida's Medicaid Reform experiment . . . .


State asks to extend Medicaid reform experiment for another month

Christine Jordan Sexton, 6/20/2011
www.thefloridacurrent.com

The Agency for Health Care Administration signed paperwork for the federal government on Monday asking for a 30-day extension on its five-year Medicaid Reform experiment in five Florida counties.

AHCA Deputy Medicaid Secretary Phil Williams said that he expects that the extension will be granted because the federal government suggested that Florida make the request. The state's current waiver for the Medicaid Reform program in Broward, Duval and three other Northeast Florida counties is scheduled to expire at the end of June.

Williams also said he expects a full-blown three-year extension of the sweeping Medicaid 1115 waiver -- and the authority to have upward of $1 billion a year in federal "Low Income Pool" dollars to help fund the health care for the poor and uninsured. He made his comments to a blue ribbon panel called the Florida Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts.

The low income pool dollars are targeted mostly to hospitals that receive additional payments to help cover the costs of providing services to Medicaid, uninsured and under-insured individuals. LIP dollars are also targeted toward clinics. A 24 member board -- called the Low Income Pool Council -- makes recommendations to the Legislature on how the dollars should be spent.

During a conference call on Monday afternoon with another panel, Williams said it is possible that some additional terms and conditions will be placed on the state. He told members of the Medicaid Reform Technical Advisory Panel that some of the new conditions may require approval by state lawmakers.

Williams said he could not answer whether or not federal authorities would like the state to adopt medical loss ratios -- or MLR's. Medical loss ratios require managed care providers to spend a certain amount of money on direct care to patients. They are a key component of the federal health care reform.

The current Medicaid Reform plan in place is separate from a complete statewide overhaul of the state's $22 billion Medicaid program that legislators approved earlier this year. That overhaul requires federal approval as well. The state plans to submit a waiver request for the overhaul by Aug. 1 of this year.

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