Ragan Canella, Joe Mapes, and Sandy Mapes attended the day-long briefing given by Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine. It was held at the State Capitol and lasted from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
There were few surprises in DHH’s presentation of the proposal presented by Sec. Levine. Represented were the news articles, press releases and the LA Health First proposal that the LAFP has been discussing as well as the concepts available on DHH’s website presented during the briefing. The LAFP’s position paper supporting the LA Health First Concepts was mentioned twice at the podium by Sec. Levine, and the letter itself was included in the package available to the legislators and the public in the gallery. In the end, Sec. Levine pledged to work with and keep primary care physicians involved throughout completion and implementation of the plan, as well as addressing she shortage of the primary care workforce. See LAFP letter below supporting the concepts of the plan.
LSUHSC spoke first and seemed to be generally supportive of the plan. All groups stated they support the concepts and certainly substantial reform of the current Medicaid healthcare delivery system. Louisiana State Medical Society and Louisiana Hospital Association also made presentations discussing their position and offered suggestions that they would like to see made with the current proposal. They had similar ideas regarding the LAFP’s position without using the word support in relation to the concepts. There were scripted questions for some legislators to ask but the questions were in good spirit. It gave the legislature, the media and viewing public a sense of the enormity of the problems facing them and the need for change in the health care system. The realization that the honeymoon is over, the surpluses are gone, and it’s time to make some tough decisions was made clear by the question and answer phase.
LA Health Plans Assn spoke last, and they endorsed any form of managed care in that they are in the managed care business. This had the effect of hastening many people’s exit, except for those awaiting Sec. Levine’s closing comments. In the end, many of the questions addressed the change to replace the current fee-for-service system with a coordinated system whereby networks of providers would be paid a set rate for each Medicaid patient enrolled. Throughout his presentation, Sec. Levine cited other states where a coordinated care system has improved the overall health of patients while containing the growth of costs. Not every legislator agreed with the proposal, and the pediatricians, who treat the greatest volume of Medicaid patients, maintained their opposition to scrapping the fee-for-service system. They say that putting hundreds of thousands of children into commercial managed-care could harm patients and drive doctors away.
As far as LAFP, it was at the table today, and that’s good news because it means LAFP was not on the menu!
