More than 100 nursing homes in New York are suing the state for Medicaid reimbursements that haven't been updated as required by a 2006 law. The lawsuit alleges the state has not "re-based" payment calculations that would use more recent cost data to make reimbursement calculations.
Currently, nursing homes are compensated for their Medicaid residents using the base rate from 1983, which has been modified to include inflation increases. Under the 2006 law, the state was to use a base rate calculated from 2002 costs. The state began the re-basing in 2007 and 2008, but then alerted nursing homes at the end of 2008 that rates would revert to the 1983 base. Subsequently, the state received a waiver from Medicaid allowing it to delay paying the new rates until April 2009, an action the nursing homes contend has not yet happened. The lawsuit seeks to recover money retroactive to April 1, 2009 based on the new rates.
Kentucky Governor Steve Breshear used a line item veto in an effort to stave off 35 percent Medicaid cuts. The move came amid protests from both state chambers as they sought to pass a three-month budget fix that would have enacted cuts to Medicaid, school funding and other state programs immediately in order to balance the budget. Instead, Breashear's administration can implement his original plan to shore up the Medicaid program by transferring $166 million earmarked for the program in the 2012 fiscal year, money the state hopes to make up for in Medicaid through a combination of cost-saving measures and a move toward managed care.
The South Carolina Budget and Control Board approved a $100 million Medicaid bailout, the second time it has ponied up a $100 million dollar bill to keep the program solvent in the past two months. Despite tapping state reserves for $200 million, the program is still on pace to come up $25 million short. In February, the state's Department of Health and Human Services found $3 million in savings by cutting option benefits such as adult dental care and certain prescription drugs and hopes to trim another $7.5 million by reducing payments to provides. That would still leave roughly $17 million the state will likely need to deal with beginning May 13 when the current bailout funding runs out.