Panel Wrestles with Federal Rules for Health Funding
“The issue centers on a $1-billion-a-year program known as the Low Income Pool, which sends extra money to hospitals and other providers statewide that care for large numbers of poor and uninsured patients. The so-called “LIP” program was created as part of the pilot, which is controversial primarily because it requires most Medicaid beneficiaries in five counties to enroll in managed-care plans.
Federal officials agreed in December to extend the pilot through June 2014 but placed strings on how $50 million of the LIP money could be used. Those strings call for taking money that otherwise could go toward hospital services and requiring that it be spent on new or beefed-up programs to improve quality of care.”
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/panel-wrestles-federal-rules-health-funding