Loren Anthes, Public Policy Fellow, Medicaid Policy Center INTRODUCTION Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code §5166.37, [1] the Ohio General Assembly has mandated the Ohio Department of Medicaid seek federal approval for an 1115 Demonstration Waiver imposing work requirements on individuals covered through Medicaid via the Group VIII expansion. Pursuant to law established in the Patient Protection...
Post
Work Requirement Waiver
BACKGROUND On February 16th, the Ohio Department of Medicaid, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code section 5166.37 established in the biennial budget of 2017, posted its proposal to implement work requirements for the Medicaid expansion population. The Department is seeking the change in policy through the vehicle of an 1115 demonstration waiver. It will serve as...
Post
94% of Providers Submitting Claims Have Had at Least One Payment, Nearly 1 in 3 Have Yet to Submit
It has now been more than six weeks since the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (ODMHAS) launched Behavioral Health Redesign on a fee-for-service basis and via the MyCare Ohio plans. In that time, 433 unique providers have submitted claims to ODM for newly available and recoded...
Post
Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee: Behavioral Health Redesign Beta Testing Part II
On November 16, the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) met to revisit the topic of beta testing Ohio’s Behavioral Health Redesign. This time, in addition to a presentation by Medicaid Director Barbara Sears and other Kasich administration staff, JMOC heard from the Ohio Association of Health Plans (OAHP), The Ohio Council of Behavioral Health &...
Post
The New Rules of Waivers and State Plan Amendments
On Tuesday November 7th, the federal Department of Health and Human Services outlined its new criteria for reviewing states’ efforts to experiment with their Medicaid programs. In a press release sent out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Director Seema Verma outlined her “vision” for the Medicaid program, which includes a new...
Post
Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee: Medicaid Budgeting and the Behavioral Health Redesign
On September 21, the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) met to discuss the state budget process and the Behavioral Health Redesign and, on September 22, the state convened one of its regional forums on the redesign for providers. These two events can demonstrate how policy is discussed in the context of committee and the practical...
Post
Senate Veto Overrides: Senate Veto Overrides: Implications for Ohio’s Medicaid Program
On Tuesday, August 22, the Senate voted to override six of Governor Kasich’s Medicaid-related vetoes. In July, the House had overridden 11 of the governor’s vetoes, 10 of which dealt with Medicaid, meaning that the Senate can still act on four of those Medicaid-related provisions pushed forward by the House. Several of the veto overrides...
Post
JMOC Hears Testimony from ODM, ODMHAS, and Behavioral Health Providers as Redesign Implementation is Delayed
After over two years of preparing to carve new behavioral health benefits into Medicaid managed care plans and recode all Medicaid behavioral health services to align with national coding standards, the Ohio Departments of Medicaid (ODM) and Mental Health and Addiction Services (ODMHAS) had announced they were ready to go live with the Behavioral Health...
Post
Ohio Senate Medicaid Provisions Could Jeopardize Self-Reliance
Changes to the Medicaid program included in the Senate version of Ohio’s biennial budget would make it more difficult for some Ohio families to move toward self-sufficiency. By grandfathering individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid expansion at the end of the next fiscal year and closing all future enrollment in Group VIII (expansion), the Senate...