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Medicaid News
States Get Federal Backing to Build More Efficient,
High Quality Medicaid Systems
 Oct. 5, 2007 - Sixteen states and Puerto Rico have
just been awarded nearly $52 million to fund research and design in new
ways to improve Medicaid efficiency, economy and quality of care,
Health & Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt announced yesterday.
States will use the funds to implement innovative
systems to get more value out of the money they spend providing health
care to their low-income elderly, children and disabled citizens.
Congress approved a total of $150 million for these
Medicaid transformation grants in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA)
to be distributed over fiscal years 2007 and 2008. Todays award
follows grants of $98 million that were distributed last January to 26
states.
These transformation grants express the core goal
of this Administration to give states the kind of flexibility they need
to deliver high quality care in an efficient and more economical way,
Secretary Leavitt said.
Transformation grants went to states with proposals
that included:
● Reducing patient error rates through the
implementation of interoperable health information technology
(electronic health records, clinical decision support tools or
e-prescribing programs);
● Improving rates of collection from estates of
amounts owed under Medicaid;
● Reducing waste, fraud, and abuse under
Medicaid, such as reducing improper payment rates;
● Increasing the utilization of generic drugs
through education programs and other incentives. This reduces Medicaid
expenditures for covered outpatient drugs, particularly in the
categories of greatest drug utilization;
● Improving access to primary and specialty
physician care for the uninsured using integrated university-based
hospital and clinic systems;
● Implementation of a medication risk management
program as part of a drug use review program.
The awards granted today vary in
amount depending on each states application. No state matching funds
are required for these special grants. More information on the grants
can be found at:
www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicaidTransGrants.
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