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Agency seeks $10.8 million one‑time bridge to cover ACO, SASH and blueprint payments; senators press for transition plan
Summary
Budget presenters asked for a $10.8 million one‑time appropriation to bridge payments to providers for ACO, SASH and Blueprint programs while the state plans post-ACO transitions. Senators urged a clear distribution and transition plan to protect primary care payments.
Department officials told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee on March 20 that the governor's budget includes a $10.8 million one‑time appropriation to bridge calendar‑year 2026 payments to providers that previously received prospective payments through the state's ACO arrangements.
The department identified the bridge funding as intended to cover past‑due or transitioning payments for SASH (Support And Services at Home), primary care medical home and community health team payments under the Blueprint, and other ACO‑related distributions. Officials said the funding is a one‑time measure to carry those payments until 2027 and that they had not seen substantive changes in the House deliberations to date.
Several senators pressed for details on how funds that had flowed through the ACO (OneCare) would be redistributed to sustain primary care providers and community teams. Committee members raised concerns about dues or internal ACO distributions that may not carry forward, and asked the agency for a plan to ensure no primary‑care practices lose critical revenue in the transition.
The agency said portions of the current base budget that were paid prospectively to OneCare remain in the department's base budget and are not automatically lost when OneCare transitions away; it added that an active planning process for 2026 transitions is underway and that some one‑time bridge dollars are specifically earmarked for SASH and the Blueprint.
Ending: Senators asked that the agency coordinate distribution plans and report back with a clearer mapping of which payments will be replaced in the base budget versus bridged for one year.
