| CHIP (managed care) bill moves through Senate amendment stage
SB 641 which moved through amendment stage Tuesday without amendments, unties provider reimbursement in the West Virginia’s CHIP program from the PEIA payment schedule. (CHIP has been under the administrative umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Resources for the past several years. Prior to that, it was located in the Department of Administration, home to the Public Employees Insurance Agency, hence, the tie to PEIA reimbursement.) Like most of DHHR’s Medicaid programs, plans are to move CHIP to managed care.
The bill is at passage stage Wednesday.
Mediciad-record-on-a-card bill goes to House Finance
HB 2978, creates a pilot program within the Department of Health and Human Resources to implement smart health cards for individuals receiving Medicaid healthcare benefits. The smart health card pilot program would (1) promote interoperability of electronic medical record systems between public and private providers, and the Department; (2) increase the quality of care received by Medicaid recipients, and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicaid program; (3) reduce unnecessary and redundant medical procedures, including diagnostic testing, and prevent prescription drug abuse by improving real-time availability of electronic medical records and reports from disparate healthcare systems; (4) reduce administrative burdens and improve payment system efficiency for health care providers accepting payments from the Medicaid program; (5) expand patient ownership of, and access to, his or her individual medical records in a personal cloud-based portal; and (6) improve security protections against identity theft and other unlawful uses of personal health information.
When this bill was considered by the House Health Committee, neither the Department of Health and Human Resources or representatives of the West Virginia Health Information Network would endorse it It envisions a pilot project of 100,000 Medicaid members with all their medical records on cards similar to credit cards. The stated effort is to reduce waste, but initial cost to the state would be about $11 million. Don’t expect it to get out of finance.
Senate Health approves bill to reimburse free clinics for adult dental services
Senate Health approved SB 229, which requires the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health to create a pilot program, by June 1, to provide reimbursement for dental care for adults at free and charitable clinics.
While free clinics currently provide dental services, they don’t receive reimbursement. This bill allows them to receive reimbursement for certain procedures performed for adults.
An accompanying bill, which was not considered, provides for Medicaid reimbursement for adult dental services. The estimated cost in state dollars is $11 million, upping the match to $66 million with federal dollars included.
The bill now goes to Finance.
Bill removes waiting period for tubal ligations
SB716 Requires the Department of Health and Human Resources to pay for tubal ligation without a 30-day wait between consent and sterilization.
Current law requires a 30-day wait between consent and performing sterilization. Physicians say this often prevents them from performing the surgery when a child is delivered. |
