A number of health groups are urging members of the Iowa House to pass a bill that would create a legislative panel to oversee implementation of a state shift to privately managed Medicaid, according to The Des Moines Register.
A number of groups are interested in the issue because it involves shifting management of the state's $4 billion Medicaid program, which provides healthcare coverage to more than 500,000 residents, according to the report. Under the plan, up to four managed care companies could be named to start running the Medicaid program next year, the report reads.
"If managed care is done right, it can do some important and innovative measures to improve quality and access, as well as reducing costs," Mary Nelle Trefz, a lobbyist for the Child and Family Policy Center, recently told a House subcommittee, according to the report. "But that's an important caveat: If it's done right."
Greg Boattenhamer, a lobbyist for the Iowa Hospital Association, recently told the subcommittee he was hopeful that a legislative panel "could help prevent the private managed care companies from shortchanging healthcare providers," according to the report.
The bill, Senate File 452, has already passed the Senate.
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