posted
on Friday, February 12, 2016
As you may have heard, federal administrators have ordered Iowa to delay the implementation of Managed Care for administration of Iowa Medicaid funded services. Since then, IA Health Link has submitted a new timeline as follows:
February 17, 2016 - Health care plans are due. Once you receive your IA Health Link packet in the mail, look at who you were assigned and check with your doctor or other service providers to make sure this MCO is a company they will be working with. We can tell you that we are very excited to begin working with Amerigroup (Anthem), United HealthCare, and AmeriHealth Caritas.
March 1, 2016 - New health coverage begins.
May 18, 2016 - Last day to change your MCO for any reason. After this date, you will need “good cause” to change your MCO.
What does this mean for you?
In the interim, you can continue to see your current provider.
You should have received a letter regarding the IA Health Link updates.
Continue working through your enrollment packet - keep in mind these will be due February 17.
What does this mean for EPI?
For those utilizing EPI’s transportation and receiving Medicaid funding, managed care will require a signature from passengers to confirm each ride. Initially, the requirement is likely to slow the service down. We ask for your patience.
On January 11, we began collecting signatures so we may be fully ready to implement this new rule by March 1.
To help speed up the signing process, please make sure that the rider(s) you accompany have their hands free and ready to sign when getting on and off the bus.
For more information visit the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) website. Iowa Medicaid Member Services can be reached at 1-800-338-8366, Monday - Friday from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
If we can at all be of further assistance, please feel free to reach out to us at (319) 232-6671.