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TennCare says TennCare 3 delivered nearly $1 billion in shared savings; lawmakers press on spending, enrollment and regional allocations
Summary
TennCare Director Steven Smith told the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee that the TennCare 3 waiver produced nearly $1 billion in shared savings to reinvest in services and programs. Lawmakers probed how the funds can be used over time, enrollment shifts since the pandemic and regional disparities in mobile crisis funding and provider payments.
TennCare Director Steven Smith told the Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Oct. 30 that Tennessee's TennCare 3 waiver has produced nearly $1 billion in shared savings that the agency can reinvest in services for the program's enrollees.
The most important point, Smith said, is that TennCare has achieved "record investments" in the program while maintaining public education and other state priorities. He described TennCare 3 as a shared-savings model negotiated with federal officials that "rewards Tennessee for its conservative, effective, and responsible management" of Medicaid and that the state has claimed and budgeted the shared-savings dollars for future reinvestment.
Why it matters: Committee members pressed TennCare on when and how those savings must be spent. Smith said the state structured the funds to be used over multiple years rather than in a single fiscal year. He told Chairman Williams the funds have been obligated and appropriated in multi-year plans; roughly $180 million of the first year's savings had…
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