SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
February 16, 2011 2/16/2011
1
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
Al
aska Arkansas California Connecticut Florida Georgia Idaho Kansas Kentucky
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aine Massachusetts New York Ohio Oklahoma Rhode Island S
outh Carolina V
ermont W
yoming
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SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
February 16, 2011 2/16/2011
2
Around the States: State and Local Behavioral Health
Financing News Alaska
Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Expand Medicare Coverage: On February 11, State
Sen. Hollis French
(D)
and
State
Rep. Les Gara
(D) introduced bills
(
SB 87
and
HB 152
)
designed to expan
d Medicare coverage.
U
sing authority established under
a provision in the national health care reform law, the bills would
institute a grant program to improve Medicare coverage in underserved areas. Lawmakers supportive
of the bills say they will encourage physicians to accept more Medicare patients ( AP via The Washington Examiner, 2/11 ).
Arkansas
APAM Study Finds Coordinated Care Reduces Medicaid Costs
for
Children with Chronic Conditions
:
The
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
(APAM) published a study
examining the effect of a
multidisciplinary coord
inated care program for child Medicaid beneficiaries
with chronic conditions. The
report found that the Arkansas
-
based
program reduced monthly inpatient costs by an average of
$1,766, while
increasing costs for
outpatient services and prescription drugs.
Overall, the program
reduced monthly Medicaid costs by $1,179 per child ( Kaiser Health News, 2/11 ).
California
Santa Cruz County Moving Behavioral Health Unit
: Santa Cruz County officials plan to move the
county222s behavioral health facility from
its current location at Dominican Hospital to a new location
nearby. Slated to cost $11 million, c
ounty officials originally planned
to move the 25
-
bed
unit by the
end of 2013. However, s
tate officials recently
said
that
the county must move the unit by the summer
of 2012
. St
ate and county officials are currently negotiating
a timetable for the relocati
on
and c
ounty
officials say a private contractor w
i
ll
likely operate the unit after the
move ( San Jose Mercury News, 2/11 ).
Update: Nevada County Signs Contract
to Provide School
-
Based
Mental Health Services
: The Nevada
County Behavioral Health Department
has
signed a contract to provide mental health services to
students with disabilities in the Nevada Joint Union High School District. Under Nevada County222s
contract, the school will pay $24,000 through the end of the curren
t school year; however, county
officials say funding for future services is uncertain. Funding for the services was disrupted w
hen former
Governor
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
(R) signed the $87.5 billion FY2011 budget
. Using
a line
-
item veto
,
Governor Schwarzenegger
eliminate
d
$133 million
slated
to
provide mental health services for special
education students.
County mental health departments previously used the state funding to administer
programs offering crisis counseling, case managemen
t, medication management, and r
esidential
placement
( The Union, 2/10 ).
Connecticut
Governor Announces Changes to Health
Care
Financing and Administration: On Febr
uary 8, Governor
Dannel Malloy
(D) announced that
Connecticut
222s
Children222s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
, HUSKY,
and
its Ch
arter Oak health program
will
transition away from
managed care
. Beginning in 2012,
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
February 16, 2011 2/16/2011
3
Connecticut
will implement a self-
insured syst
em in which the state pays beneficiaries
222 claims and
a
private
insurer administers the plans. Currently, both
programs
have
a
managed care arrangement in
which private insurers pay
beneficiaries222
claims. Under t
he
governor222s
plan
, the state will
also increase
the use of care coordination in Medicaid. The change does not require legislative approval ( The Connecticut Mirror, 2/8 ; Kaiser Health News, 2/9 ).
Florida
Update: Legislature to Consider
Repealing
PDMP
Legislation
: On February 8, Florida House
lawmakers
announced that they will consider repea
ling
the
legislation that established the
state222s prescription drug
monitoring program (PDMP).
Governor Rick Scott
(R) included language to repeal the
PDMP
legislation
in
the
$69.5 billion
FY2012
budget
that
he proposed on February 7. Approved by the Flo
rida Legislature
in 2009, the state has yet
to
implement
its
PDMP ( Health News Florida, 2/9 ; Kaiser Health News, 2/10 ).
Collins Center
Finds
Health Reform Will Generate
Over
1
Million New Medicaid Beneficiaries
: On
February 4, the Collins Center for Public Policy
released a report
examining the impact of the national
health care reform law on Florida. The report
estimates
that
the law will
insure
one
to 1.4 million
new
Medicaid beneficiaries
and 700,000 to 1.1 million
new
private
insurance beneficiaries
. The authors also
project
that the law222s
Medicaid expansion will cost Florida $1.2 billion to $2.5 billion ( Collins Center via PR Newswire, 2/7 ).
Burris Foundation Awards David Lawrence Foundation $11,000 for Youth Substance Abuse Treatment
:
The Jerry L. and Barbara J. Burris Foundation has awarded the David Lawrence Foundation
$11,000 for
youth substance abuse treatment. The David Lawrence Foundation supports the David Lawrence
Center, a community mental health center that provides behavioral health services to approximately
20,000 individuals in Southwest Florida ( Gulf Coast Business Review, 2/14 ).
Georgia
Senators Introduce Medicaid Identification
Bill
:
On February 9, six Georgia Senators
introduced
legislation (
SB 63
) designed to reduce Medicaid fraud. The bill would require the state to issue
electronic identification cards to Medicaid beneficiaries
and
require providers to install electronic
fingerprint readers at their offices
. Fingerprint readers would cost providers approximately $200 each
.
State officials say the program would cost approximately
$26 million
but
anticipate
that
the
Medicaid
savings
would cover the
entire program
cost
. The bill i
s now before the
Georgia Senate Health and
Human Services Committee
( The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, 2/10 ).
Idaho
Update: State Agencies Present
Possib
le Cuts, Medicaid
Affected
:
Responding to
Governor C.L. 223Butch224
Otter
222s
(R)
request
, state agencies
are preparing
proposals
designed to cut their budgets by up to 5
percent.
Due February 17, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
(DHW)
officials say their
proposal
will
cut Medicaid funding by up to $22 million ( AP via Bloomberg, 2/14 ).
DHW Finds Drug Testing Medicaid Beneficiaries Illegal:
On February 7,
the
Idaho Department of Health
and Welfare
(DHW)
furnished state lawmakers with a report examining the legality and cost of drug
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
February 16, 2011 2/16/2011
4
testing Medicaid beneficiaries and public assistance recipients.
Responding to a request from
Republican lawmakers in March
2010, t
he report found that federal regulations forbid drug testing
Medicaid beneficiaries and most public assistance recipients. The authors determined that Idaho could
require drug testing for
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients
a
nd residents
enrolled in the Idaho Child Care Assistance Program
. However, the report projects that
the
cost of
testing, treatment, and potential litigation outweighs any potential financial
benefit ( AP via NECN, 2/11 ).
Kansas
Update: House Approves Proposed Constitutional Amendment Challenging Individual Mandate
: On
February 1
0
, the
Kansas House
approved a proposed constitutional amendment (
HCR 5007
)
that would
guarantee the rights of Kansans to determine whether to purchase health insurance. If approved by the
Kansas Legislature
, the proposed amendment would go before voters on the November 201
2 ballot.
Designed to challenge the national health care reform law222s individual insurance mandate,
the
amendment would be symbolic, as federal law would supersede it
. The proposed amendment now goes
before the Kansas Senate
( Kansas Health Institute, 2/11 ; Kaiser Health News, 2/11 ).
Kentucky
House Approves Measure Balancing Medicaid Budget
: On February 10, the Kentucky House
approved
legislation
(
HB 305
)
designed to balance the state222s Medicaid budget. T
he measure would
use
$166.5
million originally allocated for 2012
to cover current
-
year Medicaid costs. In addition, the bill
would
achieve Medicaid savings by
expanding the
use of privately contracted Medicaid services. The measure
now goes before the Kentucky Senate
( AP via Bloomberg, 2/11 ; Lexington Herald
-
Leader, 2/10 ).
Maine
Governor Proposes $6.1 Billion Budget
with Increased Medicaid Funding
: On February 11,
Governor
Paul LePage
(R) proposed a $6.1 billion budget
for the next biennium, an increase of $300 million over
current
-
year funding levels. To address rising
demand, the budget
increases
Medicaid spending by
$
200
million over two years
,
to
a total of $1.3 billion.
In addition, the bill reduces the threshold for Medicaid
eligibility from to 200 percent o
f the federal poverty level (FPL) to 133 percent of the FPL.
The budget
now goes before the Maine Legislature
( Ma
ine Politics, 2/11 ; Maine Sunday Telegram, 2/13 ).
Update: Legislature Approves Supplemental Budget, Increases Medicaid Funding
: On February 8, the
Maine House
and
Maine Senate
approved a
$151 million supplemental budget. The budget would
repay $69.5 million that
Maine
owes hospitals for Medicaid services provided between 2006 and 2009.
The state funding will draw down additional federal matching funds, yielding a total of $250 million for
the hospitals. The budget also includes $39 million for increased Medicaid enrollment and $32 million
to compensate for lower
-
than
-
anticipated
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) Federal
Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funding. The increased funding is available because state tax
revenue is $111 million higher than anticipated. The budget now goes before
Governor
Paul LePage
(R)
( Maine Biz, 2/9 ).
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
February 16, 2011 2/16/2011
5
School Board Votes to Hire Substance Abuse Counselor
: On February 9, the Five Towns School District
Board voted to allocate $5,400 through June to fund
a substance abuse counselor at the Camden Hills
Regional High School in Rockport. The district will pa
y the counselor $60 per hour to speak with
students and teachers about substance abuse ( Bangor Daily News, 2/10 ).
Massachusetts
State Officials to End Medicaid Reimbursements for
Excessive
Readmissions at Certain
Facilities:
According to
Governor Deval Patrick222s
(D)
Administration, later this year
Medicaid
will stop reimbursing
some
readmissions at
hospitals with high
readmission rates. Under the change, t
he state will not
reimburse hospitals for patients readmitted within 30 days if the hospital222s readmission rate is higher
than the state average.
State officials estimate the change will save $8 million
over
the
next fiscal year
( WBUR, 2/8 ).
New York
South Nassau Communities Hospital Receives $312,027 for Expanded Behavioral Health Services
U
nder HEAL NY
:
Under the Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers
(HEAL NY),
South Nassau Communities Hospital has received a
$312,027
state grant to expand behavioral health
services
. The grant will support the expansion of the hospital222s intensive outpatient treatment program
to include specialized
services for individuals with co
-
occurring disorders. The hospital is one of 19
recipients in this round of HEAL NY funding, which
supports mental health services that prevent
unnecessary hospitalizations and improve care
( South Nassau Communities Hospital via PR.com, 2/12 ).
Ohio
Rep.
Johnson
Introduces Bill Increasing Prescription Drug
Oversight
: On February 8, State Rep. Terry
Johnson
(R) introduced legislation (
HB 93
) increasing state prescription d
rug
oversight. The bill would
limit
223
in
-
office
224
dispensing of controlled substances and institute licensing requirements on pain clinics.
In addition, the bill would establish a prescription drug take
-
back program to properly dispose of
unwanted prescription drugs ( WSAZ, 2/11 ).
Oklahoma
Update: Governor Proposes $6.3 Billion Budget
Reducing
Human Services Funding
:
Governor Mary
Fallin
(R) has proposed a $6.3 billion budget for FY2013, a 5.4 percent reduction from current levels.
The budget includes a 3 percent spending reduction at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services
(DHS), which oversees the state222s Medicaid program
.
The
governor222s budget also includes $2 million for
the
Oklahoma Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Department
(SAMHSD)
to fund a program
serving female offenders with substance abuse issues,
and $1 million for SAMHSD to expand a Tulsa
County
emergency
mental health response program. The budget now goes before the Oklahoma
Legislature
( The Oklahoman, 2/13 ).
Rhode Island
Senator Introduces Bill Establishing Health Excha
nge
: On January 2
7
,
State Sen. M. Teresa Paiva Weed
(D
) introduced legislation (
S 0087) to
establish a health insurance exchange in Rhode Island, as required
SAMHSA222s Weekly Financing News Pulse: State and Local Edition
February 16, 2011 2/16/2011
6
by the national health care reform law. The bill would establish the exchange as a quasi-
public a
gency,
overseen by an 11
-
member board of state officials and individuals appointed by the governor. The
board would include
the
director of the
Rhode Island Department of Administration, the
Rhode Island
Health Insurance Commissioner
, the secretary of the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and
Human Services
, two individuals representing consumer organizations, two individuals representing
small businesses, and four individuals with expertise in health care administration, financ
e, and service
delivery ( Jamestown Press, 2/10 ).
South Carolina
Update: State Board Delay
s
Ending
Medicaid Provider Payments
;
DHHS Prepa
ring
$192 Million in Cuts
:
Facing an anticipated $228 million deficit
for the current
-
year, o
n February 8, the
South Carolina Budget
and Control Board
voted to allow the state222s Medicaid program to operate at a $100 million
deficit
.
Under the decision
,
if
the deficit is not closed, the state will end provider payments in
mid
-
April. State
officials
had
originally planned to end provider payments March 4, and
have already reduced optional
Medicaid services
.
Board officials say the state222s Medicaid agency mu
st cut other costs to reduce the
remaining deficit
. South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
(DHHS)
officials say
that
they have a plan to reduce spending by $192 million but have not yet made details available.
In related
news, on
February 8, the South Carolina Senate Finance Committee
approved a bill
(
S 434
)
authorizing
DHHS
to reduce Medicaid provider rates. That bill now goes before the South Carolina Senate
. South
Carolina is the only state
whose legislature does not permit it
s
Medicaid agency to
reduce
Medicaid
reimbursement rate
s ( Reuters, 2/8 ; Kaiser Health News, 2/9 ; The State, 2/9 ; T
he State, 2/13 ; Kaiser Health News, 2/14 ).
Vermont
Representatives Propose
Bill
s
Establishing Single
-
Payer Health Plan: On February 8, State Sen. Claire
Ayer
(D)
and
State
Rep. Mark Larson
(D)
filed
b
ills (
S 57
and
H 202)
that would abolish most private
health plans and establish a state
-
funded single
-
payer system
for Vermont. The bills
would establish a
health reform board to convene this year and offer recommendations for instituting a single
-
payer
system
that would
provide
health coverage for all state residents. The plan would use federal funding to
establish a health exchange, as required by the national health care reform law, and would then convert
that exchange to s
upport the single
-
payer system.
The bill would also establish a statewide drug
formulary and a health
care
cost containment board.
State officials have not yet devel
oped a financing
scheme for the single
-
payer
plan ( Kaiser Health News, 2/8 ; Addison County Independent, 2/10 )
.
Wyoming
House Committee Approves Two Bills Authorizing Medicaid Studies
: On February 11, the Wyoming
House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee
approved two bills that authorize and fund studies
of the state222s Medicaid program. The first bill (
SF
50
) provides $100,000
to
study options for reforming
Medicaid, including privatizing the program and opting out of it. The second bill (
SF
102
) provid
es
$100,000
to
project the cost of Medicaid under the national health care reform law. The bills now go
before the full
Wyoming House
( Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 2/12 ).
