Stitt: Bills will change Medicaid delivery
Oklahoma is changing the way it delivers Medicaid to its beneficiaries.
Gov. Kevin Stitt said that two new bills he recently signed would make a “critical difference” in state healthcare outcomes.
“When Medicaid expansion was put into our constitution in the summer of 2020, I knew we needed to reassess how we deliver healthcare in our state,” said Stitt during a press conference on Tuesday. “That’s why I called for this new system, to make sure that Oklahoma was getting the dollars from the federal government that we needed to provide the best care in the state of Oklahoma.”
The goal is to launch the new Medicaid delivery system, called SoonerSelect, by October 2023.
Senate Bill 1337 will require the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to enter into a flat fee payment arrangement with partners for the delivery of Medicaid services, according to the bill. Contractors can also issue a request for proposals to enter into public-private partnerships to cover all
Medicaid services other than dental. The services include those for pregnant women, children, newborns, parents and caretaker relatives and the expanded population.
“There’s been some discussions with using words like privatization and outsourcing,” said Kevin Corbett, Secretary of Health and Mental Health and the OHCA. “The fact is that the Oklahoma Health Care Authority is accountable and will remain accountable, which means that we will set the criteria and the expectations that all of our partners will follow. We are not ceding control to any of our partners, we’re just using the opportunity to use the expertise that we currently do not have at the healthcare authority through these partners.”
Some administrative costs are expected in fiscal year 2023 but were not included in the budget, according to the bill’s fiscal note. The costs will be included in the budget for fiscal year 2024, the note said.
The governor also signed Senate Bill 1396, which will use federal dollars through supplemental payments to qualifying providers.