 Federal stimulus money has temporarily increased reimbursements for
Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor and
disabled. Illinois doctors, hospitals and nursing homes should
receive payment within 30 days, according to stimulus regulations.
But pharmacists are still scratching their heads as to why they were
left out of the increased federal funding altogether.
"Nobody can give me a good answer," said Mike Patton, executive
director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association.
However, Patton speculated that other states' prompt
reimbursement to pharmacists is a key factor. A 2007 survey
conducted by the National Association of State Medicaid Directors
found that all but one of the 44 responding states reported a
payment cycle of 35 days or less.
"Why include a class of providers when they're already in
compliance," Patton said.
The remaining state reported an average of 60 days, which Patton
said sounds too much like Illinois to be a coincidence.
Although the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Human Services
has implemented an expedited payment schedule for independently
owned pharmacies, Todd Evers is still waiting 80 days to get paid.
"You're still getting stretched out, but in years past, you
wouldn't get paid for months at a time," said Evers, who is owed
approximately $600,000 for his pharmacies in Collinsville,
Belleville, Troy, Millstadt and Mascoutah.
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An estimate from the Illinois comptroller's office places the
current Medicaid backlog to pharmacists at $493 million.
The increased Medicaid reimbursements stand as a national issue
as the recession lingers. Thirty states have crafted budgets for the
fiscal year set to begin July 1 based on an extension of the
increased payments, according to the National Conference of State
Legislatures.
Illinois is counting on about $750 million from the increased
Medicaid match for the budget approved by lawmakers last month. Gov.
Pat Quinn has yet to sign the budget into law, which Illinois House
Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has acknowledged does not meet
the constitutional requirement of being a balanced budget.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By MARY MASSINGALE]
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