Alliance for Patient Care Urges CMS to Reject Medi-Cal Cuts August 5, 2011 Advocacy, CMA, News, Payment Alliance for Patient Care, CMA advocacy, Dustin Corcoran, Medicaid cut 0 The California Alliance for Patient Care, a broad coalition of California health care stakeholders led by the California Medical Association (CMA), met with Medicaid agency chief Don Berwick on Thursday and urged him to reject the state's request for deep cuts to the state-federal program for low-income people. Gov. Jerry Brown has asked federal regulators for permission to cut the program by $1.4 billion to help the cash-strapped state plug its $26.6 billion budget gap. Stakeholders say the cuts would devastate a program that's critical to the success of Democrats' healthcare reform law — in California alone, the law would add 3 million people to state Medicaid rolls starting in 2014. California has asked for permission to make three changes to the state's Medicaid plan: A 10 percent across-the-board cut to Medicaid payments for doctors, hospitals, and other providers; Charging co-pays for doctor visits, prescription drugs, non-emergency visits to emergency rooms and hospital stays; and, Limiting doctor visits to seven per year unless a doctor certifies the need for more. CMA CEO Dustin Corcoran led the delegation, which told Berwick that the state's request violates federal law requiring Medicaid payment rates to be "sufficient to enlist enough providers so that care and services are available under the plan at least to the extent that such care and services are available to the general population in the geographic area." Click here for the full news article from The Hill. Comments are closed.
