Medicaid

West Virginia University is getting a nearly $2 million grant to help improve health care statewide.

The pill is called Sovaldi and it’s profoundly changing outcomes for Hepatitis C patients.

Just 5 years ago the cure rate for most patients in the US was about 50%. Now with Sovaldi, made by Gilead Sciences Inc. of California and approved by the FDA last December, the latest Hep C regimen is making therapy shorter, more tolerable, and the cure rate is reaching 95-100 %.

That’s significant for West Virginia, which has the second highest prevalence of Hepatitis C in the country.

  West Virginia officials are launching an initiative to help Medicaid members with behavioral health diagnoses live healthier and happier lives.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Medical Services said it launched the Health Homes initiative for behavioral health on July 1.

West Virginia has increased the amount it spends to allow the disabled to live outside institutions in the years since a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

The 1999 decision said unnecessarily segregating people in mental hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions amounts to discrimination.

  West Virginia has increased the amount it spends to allow the disabled to live outside institutions in the years since a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

The 1999 decision said unnecessarily segregating people in mental hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions amounts to discrimination. Advocates for the mentally ill, older people and the disabled cite the ruling in arguing for home- or community-based care. The ruling has limitations. It says individuals should be "reasonably accommodated" and offers no guidance on allotting funds.

  Legislative auditors say West Virginia is at risk of losing millions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding because state hasn't complied with a 2011 directive. The directive requires states to suspend Medicaid payments to health care providers if fraud allegations are determined to be credible. A legislative audit says Medicaid has paid at least $17.9 million to providers whose cases were referred to the state's Medicaid Fraud Unit. The payments could be as a high as $211 million.

  The number of West Virginians getting health insurance through two programs has increased more than in almost any other state since Medicaid was expanded under the Affordable Care Act.

That's according to federal data released this week on those enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program as of April 30.

The Charleston Gazette reports that nearly 154,000 West Virginians had enrolled in one of the programs since open enrollment began.

  A Massachusetts clinical testing lab will pay the federal government more than $4 million to settle a health care fraud case in West Virginia.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced the $4.67 million settlement with Calloway Laboratories, Inc. on Wednesday.

Goodwin says in a news release that an investigation found that Calloway Laboratories performed a medical review with urine drug screens that isn't covered by Medicare or West Virginia's Medicaid program. The company submitted claims for the review using a code for pathology services, which are covered.

We take you through the process of signing up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid before Monday's deadline. We conclude our series on the Story of the Jews in West Virginia about the Ahavath Shalom congregation in Bluefield. Holly Williams performs "Drinkin'" on this Mountain Stage song of the week.

The House and Senate have come to an agreement on the state's budget for the next fiscal year. The process was stalled earlier in the week.

Negotiations between legislative leadership and the governor centered on two issues: how much money to pull from the state Attorney General's Consumer Protection Fund and how much money they could use to expand the Aged and Disabled Waiver Program for seniors.

Senate Bill 534 was introduced in the Senate Tuesday to increase the excise tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The proposal would mean a $1 increase in taxes on a pack of cigarettes to $1.55 total. On all other tobacco products, the tax increases from 7 percent of the wholesale price to 50 percent.

“From a polling standpoint, people say they don’t have a problem with increasing cigarette taxes,” said Senator Bob Plymale, the bill’s lead sponsor.

Three bills were voted on and passed by the House of Delegates Tuesday.

H.B. 2387

The bill relates to reasonable accommodations under the West Virginia Fair Housing Act for persons with disabilities who need assistive animals. The bill would not only include seeing-eye dogs, but also support animals that one might not think of such as therapy dogs for returning veterans with PTSD.

  A state official says a glitch in the federal health insurance marketplace has affected about 18,000 West Virginians trying to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Open enrollment for Medicare ends Saturday, Dec. 7, and Kimberly Riddle with the WV Senior Medicare Patrol said that means an influx of scams directed toward seniors.

Whether they receive phones calls asking for personal information for fake Obamacare cards or banking information to bill them for their new Medicaid cards, Riddle said it’s important for seniors to know these are fraudulent calls and to report them.

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Cabinet Secretary Karen Bowling announced today that a second round of 61,000 auto-enrollment letters have been mailed to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients and parents of children covered by Medicaid notifying them that they may automatically qualify for health insurance coverage.
 

To date, the DHHR has determined that 58,390 consumers are eligible for Medicaid expansion. 

About half of the West Virginians who've applied for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act are eligible for government insurance programs.

Figures released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services show 7,096 West Virginians applied for health coverage through the federal government's website from Oct. 1 to Nov. 2. Of that total, about 3,100 were eligible for coverage either through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.

While state officials say they’re not sure how many West Virginians have signed up for private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act last week, more than 50,000 are now covered by Medicaid under the state’s expansion of the program.

Newly appointed Secretary of Revenue Bob Kiss and members of his department presented an overview of last year’s budget to lawmakers. Legislators scrutinized the governor’s last minute decision to cut almost $18 million from Medicaid to balance the budget at the end of the last fiscal year, but they were also given some crucial insight into the revenue numbers for this year.