Author: Andrew Engel – WISCA Lobbyist (Hamilton Consulting)

On June 15, JFC approved a motion on the Department of Health Services, including the following provisions:

• Funds Medicaid cost-to-continue ($113 million GPR in FY 24 and $240 million GPR in FY 25)
• Increases hospital reimbursement rates ($8.7 million GPR in FY 24 and $17.8 million GPR in FY 25)
• Increases primary care provider reimbursement rates for evaluation & management procedure codes to 70% of Medicare rates
• Increases the maximum Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) allocation from $47.5 million to $71.6 million
• Provides parity for chiropractic services to physician rates for all procedure codes for which both a chiropractor and physician are allowed to claim reimbursement
• Prohibits MA payment for puberty-blocking drugs or gender reassignment surgery
• Provides $15 million GPR to increase direct care and services portion of MCO cap rates for direct care & services

The DHS budget motion also included a requirement for Family Care, Partnership and PACE MCOs to report information on their executive leadership salaries and the amounts retrieved by the state under contractual risk corridors. It requires MCOs and DHS to track and annually report to the legislature the total authorized and provided care plan hours by service category and MCO.

The motion from Republican leaders did not include the 12-month Medicaid extension for postpartum women requested by Gov. Evers and many interest groups. Despite broad bipartisan support, Assembly Republican leadership remains opposed to this policy.