Managed Care Plans Selected
Last Friday afternoon, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority announced the four managed care organizations (MCOs) selected to manage the state's Medicaid program: BlueCross BlueShield, Human, United Healthcare, and Oklahoma Complete Health (a subsidiary of Centene).
This program will be known as SoonerSelect. The contracts are for an initial one-year term through June 2021 with five optional one-year extensions. Funding for managed care has not yet been approved by the Legislature. Over the last several weeks, dozens of Republican legislators have sent letters requesting Governor Stitt to change course on managed care.
OK Senate Unanimously Extends Open Meeting Act Amendments
On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Senate voted 45-0 to reinstate temporary amendments to the Open Meeting Act to permit fully virtual meetings until Feb. 15, 2022, or until 30 days after the governor's COVID-19 state of emergency ends, whichever comes first. It requires that any documents or other materials provided to members of the public body or shared electronically between members of the public body during a meeting are made immediately available on the organization's website. It specifies that public notices including an option for videoconferences may not later modify the method of meeting described in the notice It also requires that a code or password be included in the public notice if a code or password is required to access the videoconference meeting. The bill will go to the House to be heard as early as Monday. Community health center board are currently considered public bodies for the purpose of the Open Meeting Act.
Governor Stitt Delivers State of the State; Presents Budget
On Monday, Governor Stitt delivered his third state of the state speech and presented his budget for FY2022. On health care and managed care, the governor said, “With Medicaid Expansion now in our Constitution, this is the perfect opportunity to reimagine health care delivery in Oklahoma. It’s time to focus on outcomes and not just paying invoices.” The governor's budget projects that Medicaid expansion will cost approximately $164.1 million in FY2022 and says "funding for expansion will be offset by revenue optimization initiatives." The state's first chief financial officer, Amanda Rodriquez, said most of the funding would come from an increase in the Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program (SHOPP) and funding that otherwise would have gone to the Insure Oklahoma program. Read his full speech here.
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