Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the Medicaid cuts bill that passed the House today, HB 260; it now moves to the Senate. In addition to moves aimed at achieving long-term savings, like looking into more of a managed-care model, the bill calls for cuts in Medicaid effective next year; they include, in state funds:
    * Reduced reimbursements to providers to save $8.2 million. This includes eliminating mandatory rate increases, capping non-primary care reimbursement rates at 90 percent of Medicare reimbursement; and moving to "actual acquisition" cost for determining pharmacy pricing, rather than average wholesale cost.
    * Collecting an additional $7.5 million a year in assessments from hospitals, nursing homes and intermediate care facilities to avoid even deeper cuts.
    * Making $6.94 million in temporary cuts imposed this year permanent.
    * Reducing services to patients to save $5.34 million, from cutting psycho-social rehabilitation services for adults from five to four hours a week to limiting services like podiatry, vision, chiropractic, physical therapy, and adult dental services, and eliminating audiology or hearing-loss services for adults.
    * Discharging 35 patients from state institutions to save $1.3 million.
    * Charging co-payments to patients, $750,000.
    * Cracking down on Medicaid fraud to save $1.1 million.
    * Making other rate, management and coverage changes totaling more than $3 million.