SD34 - Communications Report


Executive Summary:
Pursuant to Chapter 965 of the 1999 Acts of Assembly, "the Director of the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) shall report to the Governor and members of the General Assembly the activities of facilitating communication between the Department and providers and recipients of health care services."

The Virginia Medicaid Program is a joint federal-state program that provides medical care for certain groups of low-income individuals who are aged, blind or disabled; members of families with children; and pregnant women. As such, it is an extremely complex program and during recent years has been one of the five largest programs within state government. DMAS is heavily dependent upon the relationships it has established with providers of health care services. Currently, 45,823 providers are enrolled into the program to provide services to Medicaid recipients.

In Fiscal Year 1999, DMAS' total budget was over $2.5 billion, serving over 630,000 Medicaid enrollees. Approximately 50 percent of DMAS' funding comes from the State General Fund, while DMAS receives the remaining amount from the federal government.

Outreach to providers has been a top priority for DMAS. This year alone, DMAS has provided over 77 training sessions to over 3,500 Medicaid providers ranging from the Children's Medical Security Insurance Plan training to teaching providers about the intricacies of the Medallion II program. In addition, the Department is working on putting an interactive training program on the DMAS web site.

On a daily basis, DMAS is in constant contact with providers to help answer questions to guide them through the Medicaid system. Over the last ten months, DMAS' Telephone Call Center has received and answered over 190,000 requests and questions from providers within the Medicaid system, an average of 19,000 calls a month on our provider helpline. In addition, an average of 101,241 calls were completed in 1999 through DMAS' Virginia Medicaid Automated Voice Response System provided for Medicaid providers.

DMAS has been reaching out to all of the providers within the Medicaid system to understand their concerns and to listen to their suggestions. DMAS has established both formal and informal workgroups to receive input from providers, recipients, and community groups. Additionally, DMAS has begun the process of placing all provider manuals on the Internet. By using the Internet, providers, researchers and the general public can instantly obtain the manual they select.

The 1999 Communications Report highlights the communication activities of DMAS from January 1, 1999, to October 31, 1999, and in no way comprising all of the communication, training, and meeting activities within this timeframe.