Louisiana Ambulance Alliance Issues Statement on State's Medicaid Reform Efforts

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011  | Contact: Lisa R. Faust (225) 342-7913 or (225) 252-3579 (cell)

BATON ROUGE - Today, the Louisiana Ambulance Alliance issued a statement from its board president supporting the state's efforts to better coordinate care for Medicaid recipients.

Statement from Louisiana Ambulance Alliance Board President Gary Peters on Transforming Medicaid System in Louisiana

"As major participants in Louisiana's health care system and providers of emergency medical transportation and services, our board and members are optimistic about the progress of health care in our state. Over the past few months, Secretary Greenstein has engaged stakeholders in a transparent and productive dialogue all across Louisiana about our challenges and solutions that require our collaboration and collective agreement.

We all agree that healthcare must be managed for the citizens of Louisiana and we can no longer wait for this to happen. We as providers, our Governor, our DHH Secretary and consumer and civic groups are ready to do something different in health care in Louisiana. We've had a productive discussion, our concerns were shared, and we now feel confident that the proposal effectively protects both consumers and ambulance service providers and creates a better system focused on improving health outcomes. Further, we are positive that the Secretary will continue to work closely with all constituents during his tenure as the health care leader of our state.

Our tremendous progress to date has motivated our board and members to formally withdraw its opposition to the Administration's Medicaid revamp. We support the efforts of Secretary Greenstein and the Department to coordinate care within the state of Louisiana and his commitment to continue to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the health care community. We are ready to move forward and are thankful the Secretary's actions have matched his words in addressing our issues as an EMS community. We are eager to continue working with the Administration, the DHH team and the health care community to find best practices in the Medicaid program to ensure access to care, to improve quality and to better manage Medicaid dollars-all while preserving the critical service we provide to Louisiana's residents."

DHH Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein thanked Louisiana Ambulance Alliance for this support, emphasizing the need for continued collaboration with their membership and other health care stakeholders as the state progresses toward a historic transformation of the Medicaid program.

Statement from DHH Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein

"As we strive to accomplish in all our efforts, the DHH team and I have made it a priority to constructively engage with Louisiana's ambulances and emergency medical services providers in how we improve health in our state. If we are going to take Louisiana's health care system firmly into the 21st century, we must do it together, and I'm pleased we are making that evolution with the LAA. We are glad health care providers shared their concerns with us, which resulted in many changes to Louisiana's Coordinated Care Networks plan. Continued collaboration with the LAA and our state's providers is a cornerstone of how we fundamentally transform our health care system, improve health outcomes and responsibly invest taxpayer dollars.

I would like to thank LAA board president Gary Peters, CEO Donna Newchurch and the LAA membership for asking the difficult questions on how we transform our health care system, moving forward with us, supporting Coordinated Care Networks and continuing our partnership."

For more information about the state's proposal for Coordinated Care Networks, please visit www.MakingMedicaidBetter.com.