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Gov. Asa Hutchinson's plan to keep Arkansas' hybrid Medicaid expansion if the state can impose new limits finally answers a question the Republican has faced since before he took office. Now there's a bigger question: Can he win over lawmakers on both sides of the debate, not to mention the federal officials who would have to approve those limits? Hutchinson last week laid out several changes he'd like to see if the state will keep the "private option" Medicaid expansion that provides health insurance to 200,000 low-income residents. It was the strongest endorsement he's given for a program that relies on a key part of the federal health law he and other Republicans have regularly derided as Obamacare. (DeMillo, 8/22)

A multimillion-dollar IT project for the state’s largest agency is on track to be completed this fall after being delayed for years and costs rising from $62.5 million to more than $97.9 million. Department of Human Services officials said the state’s new Medicaid Management Information System project had experienced a series of delays and changes in its budget, missing a federal deadline of Oct. 1 last year to go live. The tentative go-live date for the new system is Oct. 5. (Smith, 8/21)

The leader of an advocacy group for older Kansans told a legislative committee Friday that the state’s grievance process for Medicaid claims has been stacked against beneficiaries since the state moved to managed care in 2013. Mitzi McFatrich, executive director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, said the beneficiaries have no one independent of state government to advocate for them if they disagree about their medical care plan with one of the three private insurance companies that administer Medicaid. (Marso, 8/21)

Legislators are already considering what lessons should be learned from a state contract decision that could prompt 475,000 people in public insurance programs to switch health plans for next year. Legislators at a state Senate hearing last week were clearly riled about a process that is expected to generate $450 million in taxpayer savings, but is shaking up the list of managed care organizations in the Medicaid and MinnesotaCare programs. (Snowbeck, 8/23)

Three New York hospitals and a health care management company have agreed to an $8 million settlement with state and federal authorities to resolve allegations they illegally billed Medicaid. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the settlement on Monday. Under the deal, Missouri-based SpecialCare Hospital Management Corp. agrees to pay $6 million. St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers, Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson and Benedictine Hospital in Kingston agree to pay a total of $2 million. (8/24)

A Brooklyn-based home health-care service has agreed to pay $6 million as part of a settlement with the New York state attorney general to resolve allegations of improper Medicaid billing, highlighting the state’s heightened attention to fraud in this growing industry. (Davis O'Brien, 8/23)