Feds try to scale back Medicaid payments (new Rule for schools)

Source: ap

Feds try to scale back Medicaid payments


Fri Aug 31, 6:05 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration issued proposed rules Friday to trim Medicaid payments to schools.


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Schools are currently billing Medicaid for administrative and overhead costs that aren't related to delivering health services to poor people, said Dennis Smith, director for the Center for Medicaid and State Operations.

He said examples have included costs associated with school construction projects and transporting poor students to school.
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He said schools would still get reimbursed for transporting Medicaid recipients to offsite health care appointments.

The Bush administration estimates tightening the Medicaid reimbursement rules would save the government $3.6 billion over five years.

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On the Net:

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/schools_medicaid;_ylt=ArvuIPCFmOijbkSeJpeN1Kes0NUE

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we prob. lose that much each day in Iraq.

that is one eye catcher, however when you read the article is is lacking detailed information besides YAHooooo, should I get off my lazy ass and do some research or plead for someone else to do this work. Well I know me, lazy is as lazy does.......HELP!!!!!

I am a special ed teacher. Beginning about 15 years ago, we started billing Medicaid for 'health related' services we provided to students and parents. If I discussed any health issue with a parent, or if I had to fill out a behavioral rating scale for a doctor evaluating meds, if I had to make phone calls to find an eye doctor who would do an eye exam or an audiologist who would do a hearing test or a physical therapist to provide therapy, if I had to meet with a parent to discuss medical issues and how they impacted their child's schooling, my school district billed Medicaid for my time.

It is a very popular program and generates a lot of revenue for schools. And since bush's agenda is to destroy public education, it is no surprise he is cutting back on this program.

Hope this helps.

Gee what a shock.

I was waiting for him to do this. Bastard doesn't want schools to have adequate resources. :mad:

As much as I do not like this president and think he has damaged the country a great deal I cannot fault him for trying to cut costs here.
It does need to monitored though so he does not try and screw over people I admit because lets face it if he thought he could get away with it he would probably try to but overall there is nothing wrong with wanting to cut wasteful spending.

Get real. Bu$h is not cutting "waste", he's cutting funding for desperately needed programs for the disabled while giving tax cuts to oil companies, the rich, and corporations sending jobs overseas.

Dirt-poor school districts do not receive enough money to begin with. Bush has already pulled the rug from under them with his NCLB fiasco. The medicaid program is already highly monitored.

This little trick of his is merely to pump up the blood of his dwindling base - - it will not save even one penny.

$3.6 billion in 5 years comes out to $720 million per year. That is penny pinching for the federal government. He could go after a few other projects of his own creation that are completely unneeded and save more than that per day. Screw him and his misplaced priorities, he needs to quite kicking my cat.

maybe he should propose legislation preventing them from billing patients or their employers for exorbitant CEO salaries, the cost of hiring bean counters whose sole purpose is to hunt for ways to disqualify coverage, and anything else not directly related to providing health services, as a good example of how it should be done before further penalizing the poor and the schools.

The federal government reimburses schools for the salaries of poorly-paid teachers, and administrators who perform services that higher-paid MEDICAID professionals should be doing.

I personally feel that when the teachers are forced to do what higher-paid professionals should be doing, they should be paid at the higher-paid level.

Bush merely wants to suck blood from dry rocks.


Most school districts have to answer to state-regulators:

• first, through testing the children and having them approved for medicaid services;
  
• second, they have to train the teachers, administrators, and other personnel how to perform the medicaid services and how to fill out the endless medicaid paperwork accounting for each and every minute while performing the services;
  
• third, clerics have to gather and verify the paperwork and submit it to whomever completes the reimbursement forms;
  
• fourth, the reimbursement forms are created to comply with the state standards that are, at best, a moving target;
  
• fifth, state auditors review all three phases of the paperwork:
  (1) who will perform which services for qualified students in the next quarter
  (2) times sheets of those completing the services after the fact (and those submitting time sheets have to have been on "who will perform" list completed the beginning of the quarter or the school cannot be reimbursed )
  (3) the reimbursement documents submitted by the school district;
  
• sixth, the state combines all the school district stuff and submits it to the federal government.
  
• seventh, the state disburses the school district's reimbursement after it receives the federal money.