The Select Committee on Efficiency in Government is charged with looking at areas of efficiency and effectiveness in health care access, delivery, and affordability. At its August 2011 meeting, the committee created a subcommittee on Medicaid to gather more information and ideas for efficiencies in the Medicaid program. The subcommittee met four times to review suggested changes to Medicaid and other health care laws and administrative rules.
In May 2012, the full committee reviewed and took public comment on six bills drafts. Members approved five of the measures for introduction in the 2013 Legislature, after approving revisions to some of the bill drafts. The committee approved legislation to:
revise the Medicaid application and eligibility determination process;
impose a penalty on people who receive assets that were improperly transferred by a person who applies for Medicaid coverage of long-term care costs;
revise certain elements of the 72-hour presumptive eligibility program for mental health crisis stabilization services;
require the Department of Public Health and Human Services to measure and report on outcomes for children's mental health services; and
establish a four-year effort to develop and put in place a pay-for-performance pilot project for children's mental health services.
Members tabled a draft bill to eliminate unit billing for certain targeted case management services.
The committee also agreed to recommend to the 2013 Legislature that it limit the appropriation for utilization review of Medicaid children's mental health services to only those services for which such review is required under federal law.
Proposed Legislation
LCSC01: Revise 72-Hour Presumptive Eligibility Program for Crisis Stabilization, May 2012 -- Staff Briefing Paper: Cost Considerations for LCSC01, May 2012
Rep. Pat Noonan, D-Ramsay, served as chairman of the Medicaid/Health Care Subcommittee. Other members were Rep. Mark Blasdel, R-Somers; Sen. Mary Caferro, D-Helena; and Sen. Ed Walker, R-Billings.
