WCDO Radio News

Governor Cuomo & area leaders announced the start of construction on the $20.5 million Canal Plaza with 48 apartments and new commercial space to Binghamton's North Side. The project will transform and revitalize land that is currently a brownfield; it will include 3 commercial suites totaling about 15,000 square feet, 1 of which will be occupied by Catholic Charities of Broome County for the operation of Encompass Health Home, which will deliver assistance to Medicaid-eligible adults and children with chronic medical and/ or behavioral health conditions. The project will be partially funded with $1.1 million in Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery funding from the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery.

Some individuals on Medicaid receiving treatment for opioid use disorder might have received opioid prescriptions outside of their treatment programs, according to an audit issued by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Auditors examined state Department of Health records from 2013 to Sept. 3th 2017 and identified 18,786 Medicaid recipients who received 208,198 prescriptions for opioids through Medicaid while also receiving opioids such as methadone, as part of a treatment program for opioid use disorder. DiNapoli recommended the Department of Health develop a report that can be used to notify treatment programs when I-STOP indicates recipients are receiving dangerous prescriptions; & to take steps to ensure Medicaid managed care organizations require reviews prior to dispensing opioids to recipients with opioid use disorder. The report is available at osc.state.ny.us/audits.

The state Department of Health billed drug companies for $425.9 million in Medicaid drug rebates after auditors alerted the department to rebates it missed out on, according to a report released today by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Auditors determined that, with the inception of Health and Recovery Plans, The Department of Health did not take appropriate steps to ensure that Health and Recovery Plans-related drugs were identified and processed for rebate invoicing, erroneously excluding those drugs due to inadequate monitoring of the rebate process. Rebates were not invoiced and collected from manufacturers until after auditors informed Health Department officials of the errors.

The state Department of Health paid $1.28 billion in unnecessary Medicaid managed care premiums over a nearly six-year period for enrollees who already had private insurance, according to an audit by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. About $70.6 million of the premiums were paid to MCOs that were related through some form of ownership to the 3rd-party insurer. DiNapoli recommended DOH: Improve monitoring efforts to prevent and recover the premiums; Implement controls to remove those recipients with 3rd-party health insurance; & Review the managed care premiums, and recover unnecessary payments. The report is available at osc.state.ny.us.

The Arc Otsego, in partnership with Family Resource Network will be hosting a Family Forum presented by LIFEPlan CCO today from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Pm at the Holiday Inn Oneonta. The Forum will include a presentation by LIFEPlan CCO on how Medicaid Service Coordination will transition to Care Coordination on July 1st, & what individuals and families need to know about the CCO and enrollment process. Agency staff will be on hand to answer any questions; more information is available at 433-8417.

NY State of Health today announced that more than 4.3 million New Yorkers have enrolled in health coverage. The 2018 Open Enrollment Period finished with nearly 1 million people combined enrolled in a Qualified Health Plan and the Essential Plan, an increase of 84,000 since the end of open enrollment in 2017. More than 1.36 million people enrolled in a non-Medicaid program through the Marketplace and, 2,965,863 people enrolled in Medicaid through the Marketplace.