By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Feb. 13
The problem is apparently solved.
Less than 24 hours after several Kansas safety net clinics complained publicly that they weren”t being paid on time, Children”s Mercy Family Health Partners has pledged to expedite payments for January and February.
Family Health Partners is one of two new state contractors administering the state”s HealthWave programs.
“I just got off the phone with my chief financial officer and she said I”m to call (Family Health Partners”) CEO in the morning,” Dave Sanford, executive director at GraceMed Health Clinic in Wichita, said late Tuesday afternoon.
Family Health Partners “has offered to go ahead and pay us for all of January
and all of our February
billings while we get things worked out,” Sanford said.
Sanford spent most of Tuesday in Topeka meeting with Wichita-area legislators.
On Monday, he told KHI News Service that several clinics had not received their HealthWave payments from Family Health Partners and that a second managed care contractor, UniCare, had made only partial payments.
UniCare and Family Health Partners took over the state HealthWave contracts Jan. 1, replacing FirstGuard Health Plan of Kansas.
HealthWave refers to the state”s programs
Medicaid and State Children”s Health Insurance Program
to insure children in low-income families.
Sanford praised Family Health Partners” response. “They”ve certainly made it clear they want to make sure safety net clinics are reimbursed as quickly as possible,” he said.
Taira Green, director of government relations and public affairs at Family Health Partners, said the delay was traced to a glitch in the clinics” electronic filing systems.
The system, she said, had not been letting the clinics know when billings had been denied and needed to be refiled.
“We only were recently made aware of the issues and we”ve been working closely with the providers to expedite payment,” Green said. “We”ve been very proactive.”
Leslie Porras, a spokeswoman for UniCare, said calls to the clinics Tuesday revealed the company was not behind in its payments.
“Everything is paid and up to date. The only payment that”s missing is the wrap-around payment,” Porras said, referring to grant payments from the state, which help the clinics defray operating costs not covered by the HealthWave payments.
Those “wrap-around” or grant dollars are disbursed by the Kansas Health Policy Authority to the clinics.
Megan Ingmire, spokeswoman for the Kansas Health Policy Authority, said those payments will resume after some “minor programming changes” are made by the agency.
Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.