By Rebecca Grapevine Georgia is in line to recover $500 million from state Medicaid insurers for overpayments in 2020 and 2021, according to an insurance industry official who represents the companies. The half-billion-dollar payout will come from two separate Medicaid recoveries, said Jesse Weathington, the executive director of the Georgia Quality Healthcare Association. Due to the…
Compared with other states, Georgia has a stunningly low rate of referring poor children to specialty services under Medicaid, according to a recently released report. The health screenings of Medicaid kids and the subsequent “corrective treatments’’ are required under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) program. The goal of EPSDT is to…
Georgia officials have pushed back against a federal health agency’s request for more financial information on the state’s insurance waiver plan. A letter dated July 2 says that Georgia’s approach to replace the Affordable Care Act’s healthcare.gov enrollment set-up with a privately run process has already been approved by the feds. The Georgia “Section 1332’’ waiver has…
Frank Berry is retiring after six years of heading the state’s main health care agency. He will be replaced by Gov. Brian Kemp’s deputy chief of staff for operations, Caylee Noggle, who will take over as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) on July 1. Berry, 55, has been Community Health commissioner…
Georgia officials say they’re still working toward a July 1 launch of the waiver plan to add more people to the state’s Medicaid program, despite a harsh initial assessment by the Biden administration. The conflict with the feds involves the eligibility requirements that Georgia proposed and that the Trump administration approved. President Joe Biden, who…
The state’s Medicaid agency is setting up plans for a health insurer bidding competition that will award a new multibillion-dollar medical contract. “We’ll be looking for the best bang for the buck,’’ Frank Berry, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), said last week at an agency board meeting. The current Medicaid insurers…
Story updated Georgia officials, as expected, have appealed the new federal position on the state’s Medicaid waiver plan, saying its possible revocation by the Biden administration would be ‘‘an arbitrary and unlawful bait-and-switch.’’ The commissioner of the state’s Department of Community Health, in a letter dated March 12, noted that federal health officials last year…
Amy Bielawski is hoping for what seemed unlikely a year ago. Back then, the Trump administration approved Gov. Brian Kemp’s Medicaid waiver plan for Georgia. The plan would have added some people to the state’s Medicaid rolls, but it also would have set up new eligibility requirements for the program — such as employment or…
A proposal allowing “legal representatives” more access to patients during health emergencies was approved by the Georgia House on Monday after emotional testimony by several lawmakers, including House Speaker David Ralston. The chamber’s passage of House Bill 290, along with a flurry of other measures, came during Crossover Day. That’s the deadline for a bill…
State officials “are looking at all options’’ after the Biden administration appeared to halt Georgia’s upcoming plan for increasing Medicaid enrollment. Frank Berry, commissioner of the Department of Community Health, told a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that officials are reviewing a letter, sent by federal health officials, that expressed ‘’serious concerns’’ about the Georgia plan’s…