- Lower Medicaid dispensing fees may pressure pharmacies, By Claire Cardona, October 14, 2011, New York Times: “In Rio Grande City, Rene Martinez’s Starr Pharmacy has one line for Medicaid patients and another for non-Medicaid patients. On some days, most of his clients can be found waiting on the Medicaid line, a testament to the importance of that federal-state health insurance program in this poor city along the Texas-Mexico border – and to Mr. Martinez’s bottom line. His store is one of a number of independent pharmacies in Texas that may have to lay off workers and cut services like free delivery to homebound patients because of looming lower dispensing fees. Beginning in March, a new managed-care plan goes into effect that reduces the amount pharmacies receive for filling Medicaid prescriptions…”
- Medicaid stand-in rebuffed by feds, By Niki Kelly, Journal Gazette, October 1, 2011, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The federal government on Friday rejected Indiana’s proposal to use its Healthy Indiana insurance plan in place of a Medicaid expansion beginning in 2014. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a letter that the state’s request was premature because rules related to the expansion have not yet been finalized and encouraged Indiana to apply again in the future…”
- Medicaid overhaul saves $600M, By Casey Seiler, October 6, 2011, Albany Times-Union: “The first phase of the state’s attempt to overhaul its health insurance program for low-income residents has achieved almost $600 million in savings in its first six months, according to a progress report released Wednesday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team gathered at The Egg to hear team reports and receive a demonstration of the Medicaid Visual Data Mining system, which allows state officials and health care managers to track spending in a more targeted and quick-response fashion. ‘We are now live-managing the program,’ said Greg Allen of the state Department of Health, who demonstrated how the system could be used to track anomalies that could indicate possible fraud or other problems. State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah suggested the data tool could be used by hospitals to track re-admission rates due to infections or other phenomena…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty