Bill filed to tighten oversight of Medicaid managed care programs

In the wake of an eye-opening audit of Passport Health Plan, a Democratic lawmaker is sponsoring a bill to tighten the oversight over such Medicaid managed-care programs.

State Rep. Jimmie Lee of Elizabethtown filed House Bill 265, which requires the Department of Medicaid Services, part  of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, "to assign contract oversight, performance and monitoring duties to department personnel." The bill was introduced in the House Tuesday.

Lee told the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave that the Medicaid department needs the expertise of employees who specialize in writing and managing managed-care contracts. In November, Passport's state audit uncovered "questionable spending on travel, food and lobbying," Musgrove reports. "I think we've learned a lot from that contract, and we don't want the same thing to happen again," Lee said. (Read more)