Day 19 - 2/13/2007

Managed care under scrutiny

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The House Appropriations Health Subcommittee met today to hear public testimony on the transition to care management organizations (CMOs) through Georgia Healthy Families.  Kathy Blunt-Driggers, from the Department of Community Health, addressed the committee first.  She told the representatives, that while there were some initial challenges posed by the transition to managed care, DCH feels that the problems have been resolved and that the program is running smoothly.

Next, representatives from each of the CMO’s- Amerigroup, Peach State Health Plan, and WellCare- spoke in extremely positive terms about their members and their program.  Afterwards, the committee heard one and one half hours of public testimony from healthcare providers, patients, and advocates about various problems they have encountered in their relationships with the CMOS.  At the conclusion of the hearing, chairman Mickey Channell remarked that the committee members had heard three very different sets of opinions.