The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is requesting comments on the 2022-2023 General Appropriations Act cost containment rider be submitted by October 1st, 2021. Comments can be emailed to HHS_CostContainment@hhsc.state.tx.us. HHSC has requested the following within the email:
- Your name or the name of your organization, and a contact person
- A clear, concise description of the recommendation
- An estimate of the amount of savings this would achieve
- Any expected impact or benefit
The 87th Legislature included a cost containment rider in the General Appropriations Act for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. It directs HHSC to achieve $350 million in savings by focusing efforts on:
- Reducing fraud, waste and abuse
- Maximizing federal flexibility under the Medicaid program
- Making the best use of staffing resources, including converting contractors into state staff
- Encouraging the use of telemedicine, telehealth or phone services
- Applying for a federal waiver of the institutions of mental disease exclusion, if it would result in a net cost savings
- Making programs and administrative supports more efficient
Additionally, the rider states “that HHSC shall achieve savings without adjusting amount, scope, or duration of services or otherwise negatively impacting access to care.”
Some examples of initiatives being considered include:
- Making contracts more efficient by bringing services in-house, and redesigning contract deliverables without affecting information quality
- Achieving administrative savings by writing more concise materials and reducing printing and mailing costs
- Implementing reductions in operations such as regionalizing accounting operations
- Generating more revenue