Health News Florida: "After opposing expansion of 'Medicaid Reform' for three years, Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday he's 'open' to seeing it grow beyond its current five Florida counties. Crist said the program, which requires most Medicaid recipients in the five pilot counties to enroll in managed care plans, gives the state 'the ability to exercise options' in its Medicaid program. But the governor said he probably would not support a proposal that would limit expansion to HMOs. Other kinds of networks - led by hospitals or minority-physician groups - are active in Medicaid Reform now. ... The governor's remarks come as legislative budget committees are wrangling with a revenue shortfall of as much as $3 billion. Medicaid -- a $19-billion state and federal program that pays the health care costs of the poor, elderly and disabled -- is being scrutinized by not only the budget panels of the House and Senate, but also a strategic and economic planning committee" (Sexton, 2/10). The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune: "Faced with a looming loss of federal health care dollars, Gov. Bobby Jindal plans to propose a significant shift of state resources from institutional care to private and community-based options when he presents his 2010-11 budget to the Legislature on Friday. Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said the shift will affect services for the developmentally disabled and acute-care hospitals. But the biggest changes will affect mental health services, where the administration will propose closing 100 inpatient beds while pumping new money into less-expensive outpatient services designed to keep people out of psychiatric hospitals. ... But the Louisiana State University-run charity hospital system, which was looking at potentially having to close several small hospitals because of  budget pressure, will get a one-year reprieve while a 'transitional plan' is developed that will plot the future of the charity system. ... The proposals come in a year when Louisiana stands to lose up to $650 million in federal support for health care, most of which is because of a reduction in federal Medicaid payments" (Moller, 2/10). The Chicago Tribune: "The state is seeking private health insurance industry partners to provide better coordinated and more cost-effective medical care for some elderly and disabled Medicaid patients in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which runs the state Medicaid program for the poor, has issued a request for proposals by managed-care plans to provide medical care services to 40,000 seniors and adults with disabilities in suburban Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, Lake and Will counties. The Medicaid patients will have to enroll in one of two health plans" (Japsen, 2/10).

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