After the Alabama Medicaid Agency requested a 23 percent fund increase — approximately $157 million — last week, University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System CEO Will Ferniany, PhD, voiced his opinion on the issue, according to the Birmingham Business Journal.
"Medicaid's budget request ... is very responsible and really a bare bones request," Dr. Ferniany said.
He cited healthcare inflation and an increasing number of beneficiaries as support for the increase in Medicaid dollars. The state owes CMS at least $114 million in overpayments.
If the Alabama Medicaid Agency does not receive the funds it needs, it may have to cut some of its optional programs, including hospice and outpatient dialysis.