MANAGED CARE UPDATE

If you access services at The Homestead through Medicaid, or through the Autism Support Program or use a combination of private insurance and Medicaid, you will want to make sure you received an enrollment packet from Iowa Medicaid and register with one of the three managed care organizations Iowa contracted to manage Medicaid. Yes, I said 3.  We learned last week that one of the MCO’s originally contracted, WellCare, will not be an enrollment option.  If you were assigned Wellcare you will need to select from one of the remaining options: Ameri-Health Caritas, United Healthcare and Amerigroup (AKA Anthem).

The other major change announced last week was that the MCO conversion will not begin on 1/1/16 as previously announced. The federal Medicaid review stated Iowa was not ready to start the MCO conversion and is now working toward a possible 3/1/16 start.

You still have time to select a managed care provider. The Homestead currently has a contract in place with Ameri-Health Caritas and we are working with the other two.

For those that access services through the Autism Support Program (ASP) or if you have private insurance that pays for services and then Medicaid that pays for additional costs, you may not have received an enrollment packet yet but the state has promised to send you enrollment packets, too.

To help us ensure that we can coordinate funding for these services we need to know which MCO you selected. Please contact your program coordinator at The Homestead to inform us of your selection.  We are also available to help you answer your questions about this conversion.  There are many changing factors but we will do our best to explain the most recent status.