Health insurance coverage is one issue that will transcend short-term and long-term recovery from COVID-19. Short-term changes in health coverage will likely require long-term strategies to address the needs of individuals whose source of health coverage changed during the pandemic. A recent report by consulting firm Health Management Associates predicts extensive changes to North Carolina’s...
Gov. Roy Cooper recently made it easier for people to apply for Medicaid coverage during the COVID-19 outbreak. State Auditor Beth Wood worries the new rules will weaken an already-lax oversight system and encourage fraud. The coronavirus drove Cooper to waive some oversight of the eligibility of Medicaid beneficiaries. The moves would speed up processing...
The coronavirus, by its very nature, is forcing regulators, insurers, and doctors to embrace telemedicine. The Trump administration scrapped Medicare’s restrictions on telehealth, freeing doctors to treat seniors with telemedicine. The administration is pushing state Medicaid programs to track Medicare’s higher reimbursements for telehealth, and some private insurers are covering members’ telehealth for the COVID-19...
The possibility of a Republican version of Medicaid expansion has died in North Carolina. Republicans in the House had flirted with a version of Medicaid expansion that would extend coverage only to low-income working adults. But now that a federal appeals court has struck down work requirements on Arkansas’ Medicaid program, Medicaid work requirements across...
It was a tumultuous year for lawmakers in the General Assembly. Lasting well into October, this ‘long session’ was unusually long compared to years past. As will be the case in the 2020 election cycle, health care dominated the issues discussed during policymaking in this session. Many bills related to health care were introduced. While...
Time is running out, and Medicaid transformation is imperiled. State representatives began questioning whether Medicaid managed care will fail under its current timeline. The concerns came during a Wednesday, Oct. 23, meeting of the House Health Committee. If a state budget isn’t passed in the next three weeks, transformation will crash into more delays. But...
Hubert Humphrey once said, “The ultimate moral test of any government is the way it treats three groups of its citizens. First, those in the dawn of life — our children. Second, those in the shadows of life — our needy, our sick, our handicapped. Third, those in the twilight of life — our elderly.”...
North Carolina should not let its licensing laws block rural residents from accessing out-of-state specialists as long as those physicians are in good standing with their home states’ medical boards.
The state’s tax-supported managed care agencies for mental health are a mess. That’s the gist of an audit released Monday, May 6, by State Auditor Beth Wood. It rebuked the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ oversight of seven Local Management Entities/Managed Care Organizations. And it’s the latest report documenting major problems with the...
The state Department of Health and Human Services improperly paid more than $100 million in Medicaid claims during fiscal year 2018, State Auditor Beth Wood reported. An audit released Monday, April 8, highlighted a series of errors and weaknesses in DHHS operations. Some were repeat findings from earlier audits and weren’t corrected despite recommendations from...
North Carolina’s largest insurer has brokered an agreement with three national health care companies to open intensive primary care clinics this year in areas lacking services. “When patients with multiple health issues have access to intensive primary care, we know they’re more satisfied, and we know it improves their overall quality of care, and reduces...
