Budget to Bring Changes to Medicaid
October 20th, 2009
The intense financial pressure of the economic recession is evident in the budget passed by the General Assembly. Provider rates will be trimmed to achieve $76 million in savings during the 2009-10 budget year and $82 million in 2010-11. These reductions are not cumulative. If implemented uniformly across all services, the cuts would be approximately three percent. The Secretary of DHHS is not required to implement the cuts uniformly across all services.
The North Carolina Medical Society has stated it will continue to be engaged with DHHS during implementation of the reductions. The budget also requires changes in prescription drug programs (expand PAL, more generics, supplemental rebates), imaging preauthorization, and a flurry of medical policy changes as DHHS scrambles to achieve the savings necessitated by the loss of tax revenue to run the Medicaid program.
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