By Kansas Health Policy Authority, February 16, 2010
(TOPEKA) – The Kansas Health Policy Authority has unveiled a new web-based survey tool that allows health care providers, consumers and the general public to submit ideas and suggestions for ways to achieve budget savings in the Kansas Medicaid program.
The survey can be accessed from the KHPA website: http://www.khpa.ks.gov/Medicaid_savings_options.html.
"On January 1, we began implementing a 10-percent payment reduction for Medicaid providers," said KHPA Executive Director Andy Allison. "That was in response to the governor’s allotment order in November. Since then, we’ve heard from many in the provider community about the hardship that the cut is imposing. We’ve also heard from legislators who want us to come up with alternatives."
In recent days, both the House and Senate have passed budget bills for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2010. Among other things, both versions of the bill instruct KHPA to seek input from "representatives of persons and entities receiving or providing aid or assistance under the state Medicaid plan." This web page is designed to receive that input.
The page provides a link to a SurveyMonkey® form that asks users to describe their suggestion in detail.
"The more information people can provide us, the better KHPA will be able to represent those ideas to our Board and the legislature," Allison said. "We are already collecting ideas from experts and other states, and our staff routinely looks for better ways to manage the program. It’s our job to try to keep costs down, but if ever there was a time to do business just a little differently, it would be now. We’re hoping to see some really good suggestions. We’re asking people that have a suggestion to give us as much information as they can – details about how their idea would work, the types of Medicaid recipients who would be affected, expected savings, and how the idea may have worked in other states or other settings. We recognize not everyone will have that kind of information at their fingertips, but it’s the kind of information the legislature will need if they are going to count on these ideas to help balance the budget."
The deadline for submitting survey responses is midnight Wednesday, Feb. 24.