With New York State spending more than $13 billion a year on Medicaid, Governor Andrew Cuomo made cost control a priority of his administration. Within the month that he was inaugurated he issued Executive Order No. 5 establishing the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT). The goal was to reduce the Medicaid budget by $2.2 billion annually.
The MRT made 79 recommendations, 78 of which were approved by the Legislature as a part of the state budget. Among the approved recommendations was mandatory enrollment in managed long term care (MLTC) for home health care.1 Enrollment is now mandatory for all individuals in receipt of Medicare and Medicaid, who are 21 years of age or older, and in need of community-based long-term care expected to last for more than 120 days. Enrollment is being phased in over several years. Excluded at this time are nursing home residents, assisted living residents and hospice patients, but it is anticipated that all long-term care will be included in the future. The key to the anticipated savings is the transition from fee-for-service to managed care.
