HHS sent out this notice today.
The 86th Legislature included a cost containment rider in the FY 2020-21 General Appropriations Act directing the Health and Human Services Commission to achieve $350 million in savings by focusing efforts on “increasing fraud, waste, and abuse prevention and detection; seeking to maximize federal flexibility under the Medicaid program in compliance with Government Code, Chapter 537; and achieving other programmatic and administrative efficiencies.” Additionally, the rider states “that HHSC shall achieve savings without adjusting amount, scope, or duration of services or otherwise negatively impacting access to care.”
Some examples of initiatives being considered include:
- Pursuing greater contract efficiencies such as bringing services in-house, limiting managed care premium above targeted administrative cost thresholds, or redesigning contract deliverables without affecting information quality.
- Achieving administrative savings such as redesigning written material to be more concise, reducing printing and mailing costs.
- Implementing reductions in operations such as regionalizing accounting operations for state facilities.
- Generating additional revenue.
Stakeholder input is a critical element of this process. Let HHSC know any additional cost containment initiatives that should be considered by submitting your ideas to HHS_CostContainment@hhsc.state.tx.us.
Please include the following in your email:
- Your name or the name of your organization and a contact person.
- A clear, concise description of the recommendation.
- An estimate of the amount of savings this would achieve.
- Any expected impact or benefit to the state or the people we serve.
The deadline for submitting comments is August 30. HHSC will review and consider comments as it develops and moves forward with its cost containment initiatives for the upcoming biennium.
Thanks for your participation.