Missouri Senate Approves Medicaid DME Cuts, Reform Bill

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.–The Missouri Senate has approved a bill
that eliminates the state Medicaid requirement to fund most adult
DME.

The legislation, which removes the guarantee of a wide range of
Medicaid services to the poor, passed Thursday after an intense
two-day debate earlier in the week. According to reports, the
changes could disqualify up to 100,000 from the government health
program. The bill now makes its way over to the House, where
observers expect the measure to pass with little opposition.

The bill “does not mean the state will not pay for DME,” said
Brady Vestal, director of home medical equipment at Citizen
Memorial Health Care in Bolivar, Mo. “It just means the state is
not required to [fund] DME by law.”

He added that “the bill is significant because DME providers are
going to be left to the whim of the [state] House Appropriations
Committee for funding from year to year.” And this year, Gov. Matt
Blunt’s budget proposal scraps most adult DME coverage from the
Medicaid program.

With the Senate bill passed, Vestal, who also serves as state
chairman for the Midwest Association of Medical Equipment Services
(MAMES), said providers will focus their lobbying efforts on the
state House, which controls Missouri’s purse strings. “The fight is
now for appropriations,” he said.

In other news, the Missouri Senate approved a bill that would
create a Medicaid Reform Commission to overhaul the state health
program by 2007. “Our current Medicaid system is to sunset on July
1, 2007,” Vestal said. “In [fiscal] 2008, we will be looking at an
entirely new Medicaid system, from enrollment to submitting
claims.”