Idaho Medicaid budget grows as department seeks supplementals, MMIS and hospital assessment funding

Summary

Department of Health and Welfare officials and legislative analysts asked JFAC for multiple supplementals and ongoing enhancements to cover hospital assessments, managed-care costs, MMIS procurement and population forecast adjustments that together would add hundreds of millions to the Medicaid budget.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Feb. 26 reviewed a suite of supplemental and ongoing budget requests for Idaho’s Division of Medicaid that together would add hundreds of millions of dollars to the agency’s appropriations.

Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the committee the division expended about $4.27 billion of the $4.56 billion appropriated in fiscal year 2024, and that more than 98% of expenditures are trustee and benefit payments for Medicaid plans. Williamson walked members through five requested supplementals for FY2025 and several ongoing enhancement requests for FY2026.

The requested supplementals include: a $1.35 million request to complete an external quality review required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS); a supplemental to cover system configuration related to the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan (IBHP) onboarding; a…

Idaho Medicaid budget grows as department seeks supplementals, MMIS and hospital assessment funding

Summary

Subscribe to keep reading