LaCHIP enrollment grows

Louisiana's Medicaid provider rolls increased by nearly 20 percent in the same period

that saw a rise in youngsters covered by the Louisiana Children's Health Insurance Program. The LaCHIP enrollment increase of 58,338 between September 2007 and September 2009 helped Louisiana earn a $1.5 million performance bonus from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Louisiana is one of nine states to earn a bonus. State officials haven't decided how they will use the money, said Sean Smith, a state Health and Hospitals Department spokesman.

The number of doctors who accept patients covered by Medicaid-funded programs in Louisiana rose from 1,846 to 2,214 throughout the state, an increase of about 19 percent, Smith said in response to questions about whether the enrollment increase caused longer wait times for appointments.

Children account for the majority of Medicaid patients in the state. In northwest Louisiana, 5,094 more children joined the program in the two-year period that ended in September. Enrollment increases in Caddo accounted for nearly 47 percent of the overall regional increase. Only Claiborne saw a LaCHIP enrollment decline in that period.

In the past two years, state health officials stepped up LaCHIP recruiting events. Outreach workers set up shop at grocery stores, community centers and apartment complexes throughout the region to provide information to families.

The state also simplified the LaCHIP enrollment and re-enrollment system to reduce the number of children dropped from the program for administrative reasons. Improvements include ensuring 12 months of continuous eligibility once a child is enrolled, using data from other systems such as food stamp or unemployment systems to determine eligibility for renewal.

"We already have one of the highest rates of insured children in the nation, at more than 95 percent, and we will continue working to give every child in the state access to coverage," Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said.

LaCHIP enrollment grows

By: Rick Lewis

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