Tag: medicaid
April 15, 2013 at 11:56 amCategory:Uncategorized
Over the weekend, the Wilmington StarNews published a pair of competing op-eds on the subject of Gov. McCrory’s Medicaid privatization plan – one by Adam Linker of the N.C. Health Access Coalition and another by HHS Secretary Aldona Vos.
Unfortunately, the two pieces serve as a kind of microcosm of the first few months of the McCrory administration’s public performance. Read More…
April 10, 2013 at 3:46 pmCategory:Uncategorized
In announcing his plan to privatize North Carolina’s award-winning Medicaid program, Community Care of NC, Governor Pat McCrory laid out five key reasons that in his view privatization is necessary. The only problem? None of them hold up under the even the most cursory scrutiny. I’ll thoroughly debunk each in turn:
McCrory’s #1 claim why NC should privatize: “[NC Medicaid Community Care] does not focus on measuring and improving overall health outcomes for recipients”
Community Care is proven to provide much better access to health care services that results in measurable improvements in health shown through changes in health service use.
For example, an exhaustive study last year of how children and others on NC Medicaid are using health services found that children with asthma enrolled in Community Care spent much less time admitted to the hospital and in the emergency room than children not enrolled. At the same time these children with asthma spent more time in their family doctor’s office and getting medication to manage their condition. This is the very definition of a better health outcome.
And Community Care doesn’t stop there. CCNC has a detailed process for measuring quality of care delivered by providers statewide and encouraging better quality– the “Quality Measurement and Feedback” program.
McCrory’s #2 claim why NC should privatize: “[NC Medicaid Community Care] lacks a culture of customer service and operates in silos, making it difficult for recipients to know where to go to receive the right care”
Governor McCrory might want to take a look at the actual Medicaid card sent to people on Medicaid when they sign up. It includes the name, address and phone number of the Medicaid recipient’s family doctor or health practice printed right on the card. You don’t get much easier direction as to who to call first when you get sick than that.
April 8, 2013 at 4:23 pmCategory:Uncategorized
NC Policy Watch has offered numerous critiques over the years of the statements and actions of conservative state Rep. Nelson Dollar, but here’s an issue on which Dollar is making a lot of sense: Medicaid privatization.
This is from Lynn Bonner of Raleigh’s News & Observer:
“State Rep. Nelson Dollar responded carefully last week when asked about Gov. Pat McCrory’s plan to open the state’s Medicaid business to management by private companies.
(‘We need more details’- that kind of thing.)The Cary Republican was less guarded in an email responding to a column by John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation. Hood praised McCrory’s move. Read More…
April 3, 2013 at 2:44 pmCategory:Uncategorized
Gov. Pat McCrory announced an ambitious plan Wednesday to privatize the state’s Medicaid system, a move that he said will mean better treatment for patients and save taxpayer money.
But medical groups are already questioning whether the proposed changes will improve the quality of health care, or a way to slice off profits from a taxpayer-funded program for companies.
The head of the N.C. Medical Society Robert Seligson issued a statement Wednesday saying the group was interesting in learning more about the privatization plan, but was prepared to be critical if it didn’t put patient care first.
Gov. Pat McCrory and N.C. Health and Human Services Sec. Aldona Wos at Tuesday’s press conference.
“[I]f the administration’s idea of reform is bringing in out-of-state corporations so they can profit by limiting North Carolina patient’ access to health care and cutting critical medical services to our state’s most vulnerable citizens, that is not change we can support,” Seligson said.
He added, “We question the wisdom of handing off this important function off to Wall Street.”
McCrory, the state’s new Republican governor, made the announcement Tuesday with his Health and Human Serves Secretary Aldona Wos and said the privatization and move to managed care will be a solution to fix a “broken Medicaid system.”
“The system does not treat the whole person,” he said.
March 28, 2013 at 2:37 pmCategory:Uncategorized
A bill filed yesterday at the state legislature to make the prices hospitals charge for procedures more easily accessible to patients demands significant change to the leadership of Community Care of North Carolina, a health care management system run by providers.
Hospitals would have to be more upfront about what they charge for common procedures, according to an article in today’s Charlotte Observer. The Charlotte Observer, along with the News & Observer, published an investigation “Prognosis: Profits” that found many public hospitals in the state had soaring profits while patients paid exorbitant prices for procedures and required charity care was offered at minimal levels.
But the bill would also change the structure of Community Care of North Carolina, a health care system that works with the state to manage care on the community level for Medicaid patients.
Community Care has received national praise for its model of care, which sought to reign in Medicaid spending by creating a doctor-run system to match primary-care providers with patients to avoid costly emergency room visits. Senate Bill 473, the “HealthCare Cost Reduction and Transparency Act” introduced Thursday by Sens. Bob Rucho and Harry Brown, would shift the leadership team of Community Care away from providers and demand that the organization change its board of directors in order to do business with the state.
The bill proposes that the state cap its board at 13 members, with one-quarter or less of its members being providers like doctors, and creating slots for four appointment from the legislature, two from the governor, the head of the state’s Medicaid office, a health actuary, a business owner, a health insurance industry representative and health IT expert.
The board’s current makeup consists largely of doctors and health care directors. The bill would also prevent any providers that are recipients of Community Care work from serving on the board that sets the reimbursement prices for procedures.