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New Access director outlines plan to stabilize behavioral‑health payments and improve provider support
Summary
Virginia Rountree, the new Access director, told the Senate committee she will pursue surge capacity, a project manager and a live dashboard to reduce prepayment review backlogs and prior‑authorization delays and to deliver one‑on‑one technical assistance to providers.
Virginia Rountree, who became director of Access on Oct. 6, told the Senate committee she has prioritized stabilizing the Medicaid behavioral‑health network and restoring timely payments to providers.
Rountree said her immediate priorities are reducing prepayment‑review backlogs and shortening prior‑authorization times that have exceeded statutory requirements for some provider types. She described a two‑track approach: short‑term surge capacity (including outside contractors and special assignments) to clear backlogs, and longer‑term process changes such as live staff dashboards, Lean‑inspired daily huddles and a dedicated project manager to track timelines and outcomes.
"We need to get the backlog resolved, but we also have to be sustainable going forward," Rountree said. She said she is working with the governor’s office to find resources for that effort and that Access will expand targeted, one‑on‑one provider assistance and technical‑assistance webinars.
Rountree also committed to more transparent metrics for the committee and to follow up with specific timelines and to provide requested datasets, including provider lists on prepayment review (subject to confidentiality) and cash‑disbursement updates. The committee welcomed her attendance—the first director to appear in recent hearings—and asked for a short, enumerated timeline for the next 30, 60 and 90 days.
