Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Arkansas Medicaid Program Resumes Eligibility Review
After a hiatus of more than two months, the Arkansas Department of Human Services has resumed its review of the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of Arkansans who have been enrolled in the private option or traditional Medicaid for at least a year. Human Services Department spokesman Kate Luck said Tuesday that the department used electronic records Monday evening to verify the eligibility of 3,334 recipients. Twenty-two recipients were found to be ineligible. (Davis, 11/11)
A budget deal in Washington, D.C., is helping Kansas balance its own books temporarily with an infusion of Medicaid cash. But a Democratic senator says the savings should be used to provide home and community-based services to Kansans with disabilities. Gov. Sam Brownback鈥檚 budget director, Shawn Sullivan, answered lawmaker questions Monday about the administration鈥檚 plan to shift about $125 million to the state general fund. (Marso, 11/10)
Universal Health Services Inc., of King of Prussia, said Friday that Pennsylvania officials had demanded that seven of its mental hospitals return $4 million to the state in fiscal 2011 payments made to the hospitals to compensate for losses on Medicaid and uninsured patients. The demand was made in a late September letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, UHS said in its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commisssion. State officials on Friday said the letters went to about 40 of roughly 200 hospitals eligible for the payments, but did not say how much money was demanded back overall. (Brubaker, 11/7)
