Medicaid Managed Care Council update

At today’s meeting, ACS reported that there are 337,533 CT residents covered by HUSKY Part A as of April 1st, up more than 6,000 from March. HUSKY Part B now covers 15,063, moving back toward its pre-July 08 levels. There are also 7,068 people covered by the Charter Oak Plan, however 3,319 Charter Oak applications were denied in March. (Probably a high number due to elimination of backlogs; 1,210 were denied in February). ACS will be reporting on the reasons for denials, including how many are ineligible because they have not been uninsured for six months.

DSS described the PCCM amendment to the HUSKY waiver that was passed by the Human Services and Appropriations Committees March 31st. The department is planning provider and consumer mailings to open participation in the program. A brochure is in development. Objections were raised to DSS’s intention to hire Mercer for the evaluation of the program; the Council will explore other sources of funding to commission an independent auditor. The Council created a PCCM subcommittee to be Co-Chaired by Rep. Toni Walker, Co-Chair of Human Services, and myself.

DSS reported on significant expansions of the dental provider network under the dental carve-out. There are now 835 participating providers. At a previous meeting, it was reported that before the carve out there were 174 dental providers participating in HUSKY. A mystery shopper survey of the provider panel conducted in February and March found that between 77 and 93% of callers were able to secure an appointment with the contracted 8 weeks. The carve out also has a new name, the CT Dental Health Partnership, and a logo. The need to dispel old perceptions of the program was emphasized including that there are few participating providers, that it is hard to get dental care in HUSKY, and they myth that oral health is less important than the rest of the body.
Ellen Andrews