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LDH News

• August 03, 2004

  State Encourages Parents to Seek Health Coverage

  Noting that, “of the Louisiana children who qualify for the Louisiana Children’s Health Insurance Progam, 77,500 are still uninsured,” Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has declared August LaCHIP Month for the State of Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is teaming up with other government entities, community organizations and retail outlets to give families preparing for back-to-school time an opportunity to apply for no-cost health insurance from the state.

• August 02, 2004

  Townsend Named Medicaid Medical Director

  Dr. Roxane Townsend has been named Medicaid Medical Director for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

• June 29, 2004

  G.B. Cooley Withdraws as Medicaid Provider in Supervised Independent Living Program

  Baton Rouge --- G.B. Cooley, a Monroe-based company that operates a variety of services for individuals with developmental disabilities, has voluntarily withdrawn as a provider from the Medicaid Supervised Independent Living Program.

• April 14, 2003

  More Louisiana Families Now Eligible for Health Coverage from the State

  The federal government recently published new guidelines that will allow people to earn more money yet still qualify for some Medicaid programs.

• April 03, 2003

  DHH Cuts Medicaid Spending

  Tuesday, the Department of Health and Hospitals took more steps to balance its Medicaid budget by implementing spending cuts that will save approximately $8.3 million this current fiscal year. DHH is still investigating other ways to solve the current shortfall in the Medicaid program that is estimated to be at least $70 million.

• March 27, 2003

  CommunityCARE Seeks Doctors in North Louisiana

  In an effort to make late diagnosis and emergency room visits for minor ailments a thing of the past, the Department of Health and Hospitals is now in the process of enrolling primary care physicians into CommunityCARE. This program will link approximately 637,000 (75 percent) of Louisiana’s Medicaid patients to a "medical home" so that each patient will have a doctor to coordinate his or her care.

• March 14, 2003

  Louisiana Makes Significant Progress in Reducing the Number of Uninsured Children

  A newly released reported by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured shows that Louisiana has made significant reductions in its number of uninsured children. In fact, the report showed that Louisiana was the state with the greatest improvement. The report, titled "Health Insurance Coverage in America: 2001," was based on federal census estimates compiled through the end of the 2001 calendar year.

• February 28, 2003

  CommunityCARE Program Starts in Acadiana

  Beginning Saturday, approximately 83,000 LaCHIP and Medicaid patients who reside in Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes will be linked to a doctor who will coordinate their medical care.

• February 20, 2003

  State To Release Results of 2003 Report on Youth Access to Tobacco

  State health care workers will hold a press conference to discuss results of the 2003 Synar Report.

• February 18, 2003

  Health Department Announces Modified Prescription Limit Plan

  The Department of Health and Hospitals announced Monday that effective March 3, Medicaid will pay for eight prescriptions per patient per month. However, the proposed plan allows physicians to override a patient’s limit if that person is dependent on multiple medications. DHH also has initiated a new Web-based tool that allows physicians and pharmacists access to the prescription history of Medicaid patients, ensuring that informed medical decisions are made when any prescription is ordered.

• February 10, 2003

  CommunityCARE Kickoff in Lafayette on Wednesday

  Louisiana state health officials will host a public forum this Wednesday to introduce the CommunityCARE program to local medical professionals and community leaders. David W. Hood, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, will make a brief presentation about how this program will improve the delivery of medical services to Medicaid recipients in this area. CommunityCARE will begin in the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermilion on March 1.

• January 31, 2003

  State Decides Against Enacting Medicaid Prescription Limit

  Medicaid patients dependent on multiple medications still can have their prescriptions filled. The Department of Health and Hospitals has decided against a plan set to begin Feb. 1 that would limit Medicaid recipients to eight prescriptions per month. DHH originally intended for the plan to make necessary reductions in its budget but retracted it after hearing from several concerned citizens.