Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D) released  a bill of their version of the Medicare legislation intended to delay cuts in Medicare payments to physicians.  The chief way that this legislation is paid for is by reductions in payments to MA plans, although these cuts are not across the board and are not targeted at Special Needs Plans.  Senator Grassley plans to release an alternate version next Monday on behalf  of the Senate Republicans. He claims his bill will be take more modest cuts and is likely to be signed by the President if it passes. See Link for Full Bill.

Medicare Senate Finance Full Bill

ACAP submitted a letter to House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on March 31, 2008 expressing support for H.R. 5613, a bill to delay implementation of seven regulations promulgated by CMS related to the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. 

ACAP Letter for HR 5613

ACAP submitted testimony about the value of Special Needs Plans to the House Energy and Commerce - Health Subcommittee in response to a hearing held February 28, 2008 on the cost, benefits and marketing practices within the Medicare Advantage program. Our written statement highlighted the value of SNPs from the paper,” Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans/Six Plans’ Experience with Targeted Care Models to Improve Dual Eligible Beneficiaries’ Health and Outcomes commissioned by Association for Community Affiliated Plans and prepared by Avalere Health.

ACAP Record of Submission for Hearing

The report looks at 6 ACAP SNP plans and how ACAP SNP plans are designed to  lower costs and increase quality through:

ACAP/AVALERE SNP Report

New Report: Pharmacy Carve-Ins Promote Better Health, Savings in Medicaid

WASHINGTON, DC - On Wednesday, October 24 at 11:00 am EST, Chief Executive Officers of safety net health plans (not-for-profit, community-based health plans serving public health programs) hosted an audio conference to unveil a new comprehensive report that underscores how states can save Medicaid dollars and improve patient health with so-called “carve-in” pharmacy arrangements.  The report, Programmatic Assessment of Carve-In and Carve-Out Arrangements for Medicaid Prescription Drugs, was written by The Lewin Group and sponsored by the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP).

The report was released as a proposal is pending before Congress that would protect “carve-in” arrangements by allowing Medicaid health plans to have access to the Federal drug rebate—a proposal that the Congressional Budget Office predicts will save the Federal Government over $2 billion over the next ten years.  States are under increasing pressure to keep Medicaid costs down while improving the quality of patient care.  The briefing will look at the benefits of maintaining the pharmacy benefit in Medicaid managed care for patient health, coordination of care, and cost savings.

The health care experts presentations included:

WHO: Margaret Murray, CEO, ACAP, Washington, DC
Pamela B. Morris, CEO of CareSource, Dayton, OH
Mark E. Reynolds, CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Providence, RI

WHAT: Media and policy briefing and release of ACAP’s new paper, Programmatic Assessment of Carve-In and Carve-Out Arrangements for Medicaid Prescription Drugs