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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Jindal administration won't renew a contract with Magellan of Louisiana to coordinate services for poor residents with mental health and addictive disorder problems.
Instead of the one company caring for Medicaid patients' maladies, state health chief Kathy Kliebert says the care will be covered by the five private insurance companies the state pays to manage the medical care of more than 920,000 Medicaid patients.
Magellan has been the subject of two scathing legislative audit reports for its failure to meet some contract requirements. The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1uNO8Sg ) health officials came under intense questioning by legislators Thursday about what was being done to fix problems that led to reduced services and budget problems at five state entities serving behavioral health clients.
The move will be gradual over the next year, and Magellan will remain on contract while transition plans are developed and contract terms worked out with the five Bayou Health insurance companies. The integration of services is expected to be complete by Dec. 1, 2015, under administration plans.
The state Department of Health and Hospitals earlier this month announced the award of contracts to five insurance companies. The companies will be paid a "capitated" rate, like an insurance premium, to provide health care for some two-thirds of the state's 1.4 million Medicaid recipients. Terms of those contracts, which go into effect early next year, are being negotiated.
DHH Chief of Staff Calder Lynch said the Magellan contract extension will provide time for behavioral health providers, mental health advocates, local government entities and state agencies. An advisory group will be named in the next few weeks, he said.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
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