The restoration of a May 2016 funding cut will infuse almost every Medicaid provider in the state serving the approximate 400,000 people currently insured through KanCare, according to The Kansas City Star.
Last year, the state approved $56.4 million in cuts to its privatized Medicaid program in order to balance the state budget. About $38.2 million of that came from a 4 percent cut reducing provider reimbursements.
Making Payroll
According to the Star, almost 64 percent of KanCare subscribers are children, while the adults on KanCare plans are either disabled, pregnant or elderly.
Restoring the Medicaid provider reimbursement payments to the 2016 funding level is good news for pediatricians and obstetrician/gynecologists, said Jon Rosell, executive director of the Kansas Medical Society.
“It would certainly impact their bottom line more dramatically than others,” he said.
One provider in Olathe, KidsTLC, said that cut was a loss of more than $400,000 over the course of a year. It’s one of nine psychiatric residential treatment facilities in the state that provides out-of-home placement for children with mental health diagnoses, including substance use and sexual abuse disorders and developmental disabilities.
KidsTLC has 61 beds and another 12 in a program transitioning youth back into the community, employing therapists, counselors, nurses, case managers and other health professionals.
Operator Gordon Docking said with KanCare’s provider reimbursement cuts now reversed, it will be “a little bit easier to make payroll.”
Balancing the Budget Without Medicare Cuts
Last year when some providers said they couldn’t sustain the cut very long, several lawmakers went into the 2017 session looking for ways to restore the money.
The Kansas Legislature recently passed a tax increase to try to ward off future budget imbalances, overriding a veto to do so. They also voted to increase the fees charged to private health insurers who operate KanCare’s health maintenance organization (HMO) plans. The state will use still-available federal reimbursements to pay the HMOs back for the new state healthcare tax.
