For immediate Release: May 1, 2012
Contact: Roger Noyes, (518) 275-6961 (cell), or (518) 810-0665 (office)
Today the Governor’s office announced Medicaid home care spending reductions of $300 million spurred by the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) process. Thoughtful reforms must meet the twin goals of cost-saving and enhanced care. However, the $300 million in Medicaid home care savings announced today largely reflect straightforward program cuts and unfunded mandates alone. We have yet to see what the MRT’s policies ultimately mean for patient care. This outcome will only become clearer in the months and years ahead as some of the more dramatic MRT-initiated infrastructure changes affecting home care are ultimately put in motion. Many of these initiatives have yet to gain federal approval, have yet to be fully detailed or effectively modeled by the state, and, thus, have yet to be tested.
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