HHS approves Ariz. Medicaid cut; La. officials find common ground on Medicaid needs

Federal officials approve an additional 5 percent cut in payments to Arizona hospitals and other providers. Meanwhile, in Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has rare kind words for Sen. Mary Landrieu and New York struggles with its Medicaid payment computer system.

Arizona Republic: Arizona Medicaid Cut Approved By Feds
Federal health officials have approved an additional 5 percent reduction in the rates hospitals and other health-care providers are reimbursed for Medicaid patients, part of Gov. Jan Brewer's budget-balancing package. The rate cut, retroactive to Oct. 1, follows another 5 percent reduction in April and a rate freeze imposed in 2007. It will save the state an estimated $95 million this year, savings hospitals say comes at the expense of health-care facilities and privately insured patients (Reinhart, 11/26).

Times-Picayune: Medicaid Financing Formula Is Balm To Partisan Wounds
Is there a thaw developing in the tense relations between Gov. Bobby Jindal and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.? Perhaps. Last week, Jindal's Department of Health and Hospitals secretary, Bruce Greenstein, praised Landrieu and President Barack Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for agreeing to a Medicaid formula that means an extra $560 million or more for Louisiana in 2013. The ruling was made possible by language Landrieu added to the president's 2010 health care overhaul legislation (Alpert, 11/26). 

Albany Times-Union: State Pulls Procurement For Replacing Flawed Medicaid Payment System
In February 2010, DOH issued a notice to firms about its plans to replace eMedNY (the state's Medicaid payment computer system). ... The two finalists prepared for an answer they had awaited for months on a contract expected to be good for $150 million to $200 million a year for the winner. Instead, they received a three-sentence letter Nov. 9 from state Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson, saying the DOH was pulling the procurement (Odato, 11/27).