Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • MORE +
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Government
January 09, 2023 04:42 PM

Montana lawmakers to prioritize Medicaid, hospital oversight

Keely Larson, Kaiser Health News
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    373837936 (1).jpg
    Bloomberg

    HELENA, Mont. — Montana lawmakers said lowering costs and expanding patient access will be their top healthcare goals for the new legislative session. But they also will have to contend with making changes to Medicaid, a management crisis at the Montana State Hospital, and proposals to regulate abortion.

    Republicans, who hold a veto-proof majority, said they will focus on three areas of health care: transparency, costs, and patient options.

    Party leaders aim to keep “taking small bites that are moving the ball in the right direction on those three big things,” Senate Republican spokesperson Kyle Schmauch said.

    Democrats, who are the minority party and need Republican help to pass their bills, identified lowering health care costs, protecting Medicaid coverage, and preserving reproductive freedom as their priorities.

    As the 90-day Montana session enters its second week, here are some of the top health issues on the agenda:

    Not a Modern Healthcare subscriber? Sign up today.

    Expanding patient access

    Expanding telehealth and making it easier for qualified providers from outside the state to practice in Montana are two ways Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte proposes to improve healthcare access, said spokesperson Brooke Stroyke.

    House Speaker Matt Regier (R-Kalispell) agreed that telehealth is key to improving access. Republicans plan to build on a law passed in the 2021 session that made permanent some of the pandemic-driven emergency regulations that loosened restrictions on telehealth.

    Schmauch said legislators will consider spending proposals to expand Montana’s broadband reach to make telehealth a viable option for more people, particularly rural residents.

    Other proposals meant to give rural patients with limited access to care more options are planned, such as allowing physicians to dispense prescription drugs to patients, and allowing pharmacists to prescribe certain drugs, Schmauch said.

    Medicaid

    Eleven Montana nursing homes announced closures in 2022, with officials citing staffing shortages and low Medicaid reimbursement rates as the primary reasons for the industry’s ongoing struggles.

    Lawmakers will debate raising reimbursement rates for nursing homes and many other types of health providers after a state-commissioned study found they were too low to cover the cost of care.

    “Increasing provider rates at the study’s recommended level will ensure a strong healthcare workforce and should be a priority for this legislature,” said Heather O’Loughlin, executive director of the Montana Budget and Policy Center, a nonprofit organization that analyzes the state budget, taxes, and economy.

    Gianforte’s budget proposal includes reimbursement rate increases that fall short of what the study recommends. A bill by Rep. Mary Caferro (D-Helena) would base provider rates on the study’s findings.

    Federal rules dictated that anybody enrolled in Medicaid could not be dropped from the program during the public health emergency. But the omnibus spending bill recently passed by Congress allows states to begin reviewing the eligibility of their beneficiaries in April, and millions of people across the U.S. are at risk of losing coverage as a result.

    “That will have an inherent outcome of removing people who qualified for Medicaid but because of this process being so complicated, they’ll lose it,” Caferro said.

    Caferro said she plans to introduce legislation that restores 12-month continuous eligibility for adults enrolled in Montana Medicaid. The measure is likely to be opposed by legislative Republicans and Gianforte, who co-signed a letter to President Joe Biden in December saying the public health emergency had artificially expanded the Medicaid population.
     

    Montana State Hospital

    The Montana State Hospital lost its federal accreditation after a spate of injuries and deaths, making management of the psychiatric hospital and the availability of behavioral health services a top priority of the session.

    Stroyke said Gianforte’s two-year budget plan, which is a starting point for legislative budget writers, includes $300 million for the state hospital and for expanding access to intensive behavioral health care across the state.

    Legislators are considering measures that would shift care for some patients from the state-run hospital to community-based health services. Regier said moving more public health services from state institutions to community providers would relieve some strain on facilities like the Montana State Hospital.

    Download Modern Healthcare’s app to stay informed when industry news breaks.

    Abortion

    Lawmakers from both parties have filed more than a dozen bill draft requests dealing with abortion. One from Regier would restrict the type of abortions that can be performed in the state, and, at the other end of the debate, a proposal by Sen. Ryan Lynch (D-Butte) would codify abortion access in state law. The Gianforte administration also recently proposed an administrative rule that would make it more difficult for women to have an abortion paid for by Medicaid.

    But the Republican majority is restricted from enacting a sweeping abortion ban in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. That’s because a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling determined the state constitution’s right-to-privacy protection covers abortion access. The state is seeking to overturn that precedent after a judge blocked three anti-abortion laws passed by the 2021 legislature.

    Hospital oversight

    Lawmakers also will consider proposals to increase oversight of the way nonprofit hospitals report community benefits.

    State health officials have wanted to set standards for the charitable contributions those hospitals make in exchange for their tax-exempt status. A KHN investigation found that Montana’s nonprofit hospitals spent about 8% of their total annual expenses on charity benefits in 2019, which is below the national average.

    Kaiser Health News is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

    Related Articles
    Lawmakers in 9 states prefiled anti-trans bills ahead of 2023 legislative sessions
    Medicaid agencies take on health equity, social determinants
    HHS offers guidance to Medicaid agencies for reimbursing nonclinical care
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    WHO_i.jpg
    COVID-19 still an emergency but approaching 'inflexion point,' WHO says
    Record 16.3M people enroll in ACA plans
    Record 16.3M people enroll in ACA plans
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare Alert: Sign up for this breaking news email to be kept in the loop as urgent healthcare business news unfolds.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • MORE +
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing