PAR urges more oversight of new Medicaid managed care program

The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana is today releasing a report on Bayou Health, Louisiana’s new program that will allow private companies to manage the care of nearly 900,000 Medicaid recipients, mostly children, starting in 2012. “Checkup on Bayou Health: What Louisiana Needs to Know About Medicaid Managed Care Privatization” examines the state’s initiative to place about two-thirds of the state’s Medicaid population and more than $2 billion in annual health care spending under the responsibility of privately managed Coordinated Care Networks. Similar Medicaid privatized managed care systems have been adopted by many states and rejected by some others. PAR’s report recommends the Legislature take the lead in providing oversight of the program by establishing a special committee or commission on oversight of state and federal health care reforms. The report notes such oversight bodies for health care reforms have been established in most states. The purpose would be to establish a year-round focus on the reforms and to verify their impacts on spending, health-care service providers and patient outcomes. See the full report here.