Private managed care companies lose money under KanCare

Medicaid news from Kansas, North Carolina and Louisiana.

Kansas Health Institute News Service: MCOs Continue To Lose Money In KanCare's Second Year
The three private insurance companies that administer the Kansas Medicaid program under KanCare lost $72.6 million in the first half of 2014, after losing $110 million in 2013. Rep. Jim Ward, a member of a KanCare oversight committee who requested the fiscal information from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, questioned Tuesday how long the three companies can sustain such losses. "These companies can't keep subsidizing Medicaid to the tune of $100 or $150 million per year, and that's what's happening," said Ward, D-Wichita. KanCare is the initiative launched by Gov. Sam Brownback on Jan. 1, 2013. It moved virtually all the state's Medicaid enrollees into health plans run by Amerigroup, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan and Sunflower Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene (Marso, 9/9).

The Associated Press: NC Health Officials Highlight Medicaid Finances
North Carolina health officials on Tuesday underlined a positive cash balance within the state Medicaid agency, while also citing progress in lifting a number of administrative weights that have dragged down the Department of Health and Human Services. Speaking to a legislative oversight committee, a state budget officer affirmed that Medicaid had a $63.6 million cash balance when the previous fiscal year ended on June 30. It's a small amount compared to a program that spends more than $13 billion in federal and state funds annually. The extra cash didn't address a backlog of Medicaid enrollment applications nor provider reimbursement claims that have been delayed under a new computerized billing system turned on 14 months ago (Robertson, 9/9).

Modern Healthcare: OIG Audit Finds Louisiana Miscalculated Medicaid EHR Payments
Louisiana's Medicaid electronic health-record incentive payment program for hospitals made incorrect payments to 20 of 25 hospitals reviewed in the first year of the program. The state underpaid some but overpaid more than twice as many, owing the federal government about $1.8 million, according to HHS' Office of the Inspector General (Conn, 9/9).