On April 1, 2014 the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) submitted a quarterly report on the overall condition of the Medical Assistance (MA) budget to the Joint Committee on Finance. The report showed significant improvement from the last quarterly report.
The projected $92.6 million GPR deficit in the Medicaid budget, which was reported December 31, 2013 — has now been revised to a projected $20.3 million GPR deficit.
The report outlines key factors in the improvement:
- DHS projects smaller increases in enrollment and costs per enrollees in Family Care, PACE/Partnership, and IRIS. The new projection reduces expenditures by $35.4 million GPR.
- DHS has implemented an initiative to claim federal Children’s Health Insurance Program funding for some hospital payments for children eligible for the program. This is expected to bring $19.7 million in addition federal funding into the budget.
- Cost settlement for federally qualified health centers will be $8.7 million GPR lower than previously estimated.
- The state will receive $3.4 million more than was projected in its Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act performance bonus award. This amount could increase or decrease before the performance bonus is awarded in late spring.
- Caseloads are lower than was assumed in Act 20, HMO payments will be lowered, and expenditure trends in some service lines have moderated.