President's Message

Posted on: 3/22/24

This week, the Oklahoma Legislature only spent a couple of days in session so they could spend time with their families during spring break. If you're looking for an update on the issues that we are tracking at the Capitol, please look to this week’s Hotline. If you have any questions, please reach out to Scott Tohlen on our team, vice president of advocacy. 

Now, I wanted to share with you a couple of important dates coming up. The first is April 1. On that day, SoonerSelect goes live in Oklahoma. This is our state’s managed Medicaid program and also tied to SoonerSelect will be the payments for the average commercial rate (ACR) and the SHOPP payments. Today, we had a call with the health plans and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, along with members who are engaged in managed care contracting. On that call, we learned from the state Medicaid director that the ACR and SHOPP payments will go out on April 24. They stated that they hope to be able to get them out sooner, but the goal is at least by April 24. 

It’s important to note that these payments will flow through the health plans. Now, the only way you can get paid is if you have pre-registered with the health plans to be able to allow those payments to flow to you. Hospitals need to look into their contracts and determine whether or not they have provided the W-9 and other information that the health plans need for those payments to flow through. If you haven’t done that, please reach out to the plan representative that you’ve been working with. If you need assistance from OHA, please reach out to Mitzi McCullock on our team.

The second item I want to bring to your attention is an update on Change Healthcare. Today I had the opportunity to spend some time with Sen. Lankford’s staff to discuss where we are with Change Healthcare and they specifically asked that if we know of any of our members having ongoing issues, to please share that with them. If you’ve run into any difficulty with the health plan you need addressed, or if you’re having difficulty accessing some of the relief programs that they’ve put in place, please share that with us. Reach out to Mitzi McCullock and we will connect you with the senator’s staff so they can intervene directly on your behalf. 

Lastly, our Caregivers Day at the Capitol is next Wednesday, March 27. We encourage you to participate and there’s still time to register. Information is in today’s Hotline. Having our members there, not just you as hospital leaders, but also clinical members of your team, sharing your experiences with your legislator, is one other important way that we can tell the story of the great work our hospitals are doing to improve health and healthcare in Oklahoma.
  

Rich Rasmussen
President & CEO