Key 2014 Dollar Limits for Medicaid Long-Term Care Coverage Released
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the 2014 federal guidelines for how much money the spouse...
Read moreMore and more states are switching to a managed care model when dealing with Medicaid long-term care patients, a change that has resulted in a loss of services in some cases.
Many states use managed care to deliver care to their regular Medicaid populations, but until recently, the care needs of the elderly and disabled have been viewed as too complex for the managed care model. But states are increasingly turning their state-run home health programs over to private insurance firms to provide managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS). The number of states with MLTSS programs increased from eight in 2004 to 20 in 2016.
Local Elder Law Attorneys in Ashburn, VA
Ron M. Landsman has been practicing elder law since 1983, before it was known as elder law, originally with Landsman and Laster, Washington, D.C., then Landsman, Eakes and Laster, also in Arlington, VA, and since 1990 in his own practice in Montgomery County, Maryland. He has been among the most active members of the...
Margaret A. O’Reilly is an estate planning and elder law attorney with over thirty-five years of legal experience. Attorney O’Reilly graduated from Duke University with a degree in psychology, and received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. For over 15 y...
Jean Galloway Ball is certified in Elder Law by the National Elder Law Foundation. She is a 1977 honors graduate of the National Law Center, George Washington University, and she did her undergraduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. She is admitted to practice in Vir...
The benefit to states is cost savings. The basic idea of managed care is that a health plan is paid a flat monthly fee for each patient under its care. If the plan's costs in caring for that patient are less than the fixed fee, the plan makes money. But if the patient is quite sick and requires many costly medical services, then the plan may lose money on that particular patient. In this way, the insurance company rather than the state is at risk of incurring extra costs, and insurers have an investment in keeping costs down.
On the plus side, MLTSS programs can help people who might otherwise be institutionalized stay in their homes because home health care is generally cheaper than nursing home care. According to an article in Modern Healthcare, New Jersey reports that the number of Medicaid beneficiaries staying in the community is up 12 percent since that state’s MLTSS program launched.
On the other hand, some beneficiaries are complaining that the switch to managed care has resulted in a loss of services. Modern Healthcare reports that managed care providers denied long-term care services and supports that were previously provided, sometimes without notice or explanation. Beneficiaries complained about reduced care hours or changes in the type of care provider. A study of MLTSS programs in three states could not determine whether or not the programs resulted in higher quality care and lower costs.
For more information about Medicaid managed care from Modern Healthcare, click here.
The advocacy group Justice in Aging offers a toolkit that that state advocates can use to push for strong patient protections in MLTSS programs. For details, click here.
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