Health Secretary Praises Beebe Medicaid Reform Effort

We’ve been reporting for months on Gov. Mike Beebe’s controversial efforts to make changes to the state’s Medicaid system.

Beebe has warned of pending major budget shortfalls beginning in the next fiscal year if Medicaid is not overhauled. He asked the federal government for a waiver to experiment with a "bundling system" of certain health care delivery. Critics of the proposed Medicaid changes have expressed concern that the overhaul could be detrimental to some health care providers and they’ve pushed for more transparency in the process.

Today, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Arkansas on a jobs initiative. Afterwards, Sebelius spoke with reporters.

John Lyon with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, reports on her comments regarding Arkansas and Medicaid reform although there wasn’t much new from her responses:

“I’ve been working with Gov. Beebe around his ideas for not only how to lower health care costs for state programs but really looking at sort of the underlying health care costs that affect business owners, health insurance, the Medicare program and really working on innovative strategies,” she said.

Beebe received permission from Sebelius in May to develop a proposal for revamping the way the state’s Medicaid program reimburses health care providers. Details have been scant, but Beebe has said he wants to move “away from a fragmented, volume-driven fee-for-services system to one that pays teams of providers for episodes of bundled care.”

Sebelius said today her office is in “close dialogue” with Beebe’s office.

“He’s got health care providers at the table, major insurance companies at the table, as well as the state program, looking at ways that not only dollars can be saved but better care can be delivered, and that’s the real goal,” she said.

You can read more of Lyon’s article

at this link

.