Legislators Hear Of Cost Savings For State Welfare Programs

A study commissioned by the Arkansas Legislature suggested the state could realize more than $100 million in savings each year from a variety of programs under the umbrella of the Department of Human Services.

John Lyon with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, reports:

Lawmakers voted during this year’s legislative session to pay The Alexander Group, a Pennsylvania-based consulting firm, $220,000 to conduct a study of the state Medicaid program and other parts of the state’s public welfare system. Owner Gary Alexander and other representatives of the firm presented a report on the study Monday to the House and Senate committees on public health, welfare and labor.

The report includes 32 recommendations for short-term and long-term initiatives. It claims the short-term initiatives could save the state between $65 million and $98 million a year and that the long-term initiatives could save the state between $46.8 million $63 million a year.

Alexander told the legislative panel Monday that in addition to those initiatives, the firm believed Arkansas “should pursue a global and comprehensive redesign of its Medicaid program.”

Recommendations in the report included:

• Establishing performance goals for programs and metrics for measuring performance;
• Requiring state agencies to include cost-saving initiatives in their budget proposals;
• Consolidating contracts;
• Monitoring high-cost cases to identify excessive or ineffective use of Medicaid money; and Relocating a larger proportion of nursing home residents into home- or community-based care.

Read Lyon’s full report at this link.