State officials identify priorities for Medicaid reform, By John Lyon, August 22, 2011, Arkansas News: “State officials working on revamping Arkansas’ Medicaid program have identified nine priority areas for reform. In an Aug. 10 letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, Gov. Mike Beebe said the nine areas ‘appear to hold significant potential for early success and impact in moving from fee-for-service to episodic payments,’ or payments based on an entire course of treatment for a single health issue. The areas are pregnancy and neonatal care; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; type 2 diabetes; back pain; cardiovascular disease; upper respiratory infections; developmental disabilities; long-term care; and prevention…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty