Tribune staff reporter Christi Parsons did an excellent job in outlining the problems that private, non-profit, developmental-disability service providers around the state have with the governor’s proposed funding plan.
It must be emphasized that while these providers have no objections to the state’s effort to capture more Medicaid money, nor do they object to a fee-for-service system, they have to oppose the way the state is going about this because of the severe financial harm it would cause their agencies.
Out of the anticipated $60 million that the state would gain from this plan, $52 million of it would come as a loss to the private service agencies through a lowering of rates and a two-month delay in their payments.
Most these issues could be resolved if:
– The pre-payment system were kept in place with regular reconciliation; this is allowable under the Medicaid rules.
– A higher than average rate were paid for serving individuals with severe or multiple disabilities.
– A dedicated fund were created to capture new Medicaid dollars that could be used to provide adequate rates and cover services to non-Medicaid eligible people.
– The annual 1,100-hour cap for day training were raised to 1,200 hours at the same hourly rate so that agencies would be paid for all the hours of services they provide.
We appeal to the leadership of the state administration to consider these alternatives in order to prevent the devastation of our non-profit community service system for people with development disabilities.
