Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Sud Medicaid Rates topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Behavioral-health providers warn Senate Finance the temporary SUD rate boost needs more funding to avoid cuts
Summary
Addiction treatment providers asked the committee to preserve and expand funding used last year to temporarily enhance Medicaid substance-use disorder rates; providers said House bill language includes $31 million in federal support but estimated about $41.3 million would be needed to annualize the enhancement.
Lonnie Greiner, policy and advocacy manager for Odyssey House Louisiana and acting administrator of the state treatment providers association, asked the committee to keep funding in House Bill 1 that preserves prior year temporary enhancements to Medicaid substance use disorder treatment rates.
Greiner said the 2024 Legislature provided $10 million in state general funds that, together with federal match, produced $31 million in enhanced funding for a nine-month period beginning Oct. 1, 2024. He told senators the enhancement was scheduled to expire in June and that HB1 currently includes approximately $31 million in federal funding; he said providers are uncertain whether that level will sustain the temporarily enhanced rates for a full 12 months.
“I also want to ask that the Committee evaluate whether this funding is sufficient, as my calculations are that approximately $41,300,000 is needed to avoid a rate reduction to fund the same level of rates for a full 12 months,” Greiner said. He asked appropriators to prioritize keeping the funding in the bill and to consider whether the level is sufficient.
Greiner said providers are seeing higher acuity and longer lengths of stay linked to substances such as fentanyl and synthetics, and he warned that without sustained funding the modest rate increase achieved last year could be lost.
Ending: Committee members requested LDH confirmation of federal match timing and the recurring nature of the $31 million in HB1 and flagged the provider estimate of $41.3 million as a figure warranting further review before final appropriation decisions.
