Tag: Medicaid
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![What If No One Was on Call [at the Legislature]?](https://alabamamedicine.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Capitol3_banner.jpg)
What If No One Was on Call [at the Legislature]?
2017 Legislative Recap In times of illness, injury and emergency, patients depend on their physicians. But what if no one was on call? Public health would be in jeopardy. However, the same holds true during a legislative session. What would happen if the Medical Association was not on call, advocating for you and your patients…
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New American Health Care Act Comes Under Fire
Earlier this week, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee released legislation as part of the House Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. Although the legislation cleared its first hurdle with a lengthy, contentious markup session that began Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved the American Health Care Act. The House…
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RCO Implementation On Schedule; New Regions Offered to Other Probationary RCOs
MONTGOMERY – The Alabama Medicaid Agency has been notified that Envolve, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centene, is ending its agreement as a capital contributor with all five Alabama Healthcare Advantage (AHA) organizations that had planned to operate as Regional Care Organizations this fall. Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar said the AHA organizations have notified the…
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Alabama Medicaid Pushes RCO Start Date to October 2017
The State of Alabama’s shift to managed care has been long in the works, and it looks as though the wait will be a little longer before the regional care organizations will be officially operational, according to the Alabama Medicaid Agency. While Gov. Robert Bentley has said repeatedly that he remains committed to moving forward…
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Opinion: All Americans Need Access to Affordable, Quality Care
Editorial contributed by John Meigs Jr., M.D., president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, member of the Medical Association Board of Censors, and a family physician in Centreville, Ala. Editorial reprinted by permission. Since Election Day, health care analysts have tried to forecast the fate of our health care system. Much remains uncertain, but…
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RCO Implementation Changes and Service Delivery Network Timelines
The Alabama Medicaid Agency is working with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to amend the approved 1115 waiver to allow for an Oct. 1, 2017, start date for the Regional Care Organization program. The deadline for probationary RCOs to demonstrate the existence of an adequate service delivery network by submitting to Medicaid signed contracts…
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Reading Gives You Wings with Marsha Raulerson, M.D.
BREWTON — According to Dr. Seuss in I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” That’s a philosophy Brewton pediatrician Marsha Raulerson can easily get behind. For more than 30 years, Dr. Raulerson has celebrated her…
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Primary Care Cut Restored; Physicians Must Re-Attest to Qualify
In a press conference Thursday, Sept. 22, Gov. Robert Bentley and Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar announced that the primary care cut, which became effective Aug. 1, will be restored on Oct. 1. However, Medicaid-enrolled primary care physicians who qualify for the Primary Care Enhanced Physicians Rates must self-attest in order to continue to receive…
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The New Capitated System: How Do Physicians Respond?
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the 2015 Winter Issue of Alabama Medicine magazine On May 17, 2013, Gov. Robert Bentley signed into law Act 2013-261, Ala. Code Sections 22-6-150 et seq., which changes the Alabama Medicaid System from a fee-for-service to a managed care program (the “Act”). This will dramatically change the…
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Physician Groups Issue Joint Statement on Medicaid Funding Cuts
April 8, 2016 | MONTGOMERY – Without Fully Funding Medicaid, Patient Care at Risk With the passing of the General Fund budget, lawmakers appropriated $700 million for Medicaid next year, $85 million short of what is needed to fully fund Medicaid. Now the Medicaid Agency is left with the tough decisions of which programs to…