State House approves OHCA funds; Senate seeks agency probe

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Feb 15, 2002 by Marie Price The Journal Record

Senate Republicans on Thursday called for an independent audit of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state Medicaid agency, shortly after the House approved a $15.6 million supplemental appropriation to the authority to see it through this fiscal year.

Legislative leaders announced agreement on the funding measure Wednesday evening.

The authority's board voted earlier to make cuts in 23 service areas, including $5 million to state nursing homes, $3 million from cutting Medicaid payments to doctors and outpatient health facilities and $1.4 million in reductions in the state prescription drug program.

Some 15,000 notices were to be mailed to Medicaid recipients today outlining the reductions.

Authority CEO Mike Fogarty has said that he would welcome an audit.

"I hope he welcomes the results of it," said Senate Minority Floor Leader James Dunlap, R-Bartlesville.

Dunlap said that he expects the Senate GOP caucus to support the funding measure, but he wants an accounting of how it will be spent, and of the agency's spending in general.

He took particular note of the fact that the health care agency has said it needed additional same-year funding every year for the last several years, with program and service cuts the only alternative.

"It's very close to extortion by a state agency," Dunlap said.

The Senate GOP leader said that it is very difficult to obtain financial data from the authority.

He questioned why the agency cannot forecast its annual needs more closely.

Dunlap also said that health care reform legislation passed a couple of years ago prohibits the very cuts announced by the authority's board.

"We can't get straight answers," said Sen. James A. Williamson, R- Tulsa.

Authority officials attribute the funding gap in large part to unanticipated growth in Medicaid enrollments.

When the supplemental funding bill came before the House, Rep. Bill J. Mitchell, D-Lindsay, who chairs the human services budget subcommittee, said that the authority originally requested $21 million for the final four months of the current fiscal year. However, he said that officials trimmed $4.5 million from certain areas of the agency's budget and delayed another $1.18 million.

Rep. John A. Wright, R-Broken Arrow, questioned pay increases that have been granted to authority personnel, but Mitchell said the net financial impact of these salary hikes is only about $45,000.

Dunlap said that the authority should rollback the pay hikes as a gesture of good faith.

House Speaker Larry Adair, D-Stilwell, would not respond directly to the Senate Republicans' audit request.

However, the House leader said that health care costs have risen continually in recent years, and continue to do so.

"I don't think anyone can really predict what going to happen because it is constantly changing," Adair said.

Adair expressed confidence that Mitchell and the subcommittee will carefully scrutinize the authority's budget. "I'm sure he's on top of the issue," the speaker said.

House Majority Floor Leader Danny Hilliard, D-Sulphur, said that both the health care authority and Department of Corrections -- another agency that tends to seek annual supplemental funding -- must deal with fluid numbers, economic indicators and other factors over which officials have little if any control.

Adair said that lawmakers will review all such requests, some of which may have higher priorities. "We're going to just have to prioritize where we put money in this year's budget," he said.

The bill passed the House and was sent to the Senate by a vote of 93-0.

Marie Price is the senior Capitol reporter of The Journal Record's Oklahoma Business News division.