Medicaid Managed Care Changes Effective March 2012

Beginning March 1, 2012, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is implementing changes to the delivery of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) services.

These changes include:

• The expansion of the STAR and STAR+PLUS Medicaid managed care programs to new areas of the state.
• The transition of approximately 880,000 people from the PCCM program into managed care.
• Prescription drug benefits, currently administered through HHSC’s Vendor Drug Program, will be delivered through the Medicaid and CHIP managed care organizations (MCOs). Click here for details.
• The re-procurement of STAR, STAR+PLUS, and the CHIP MCOs in most existing service areas. As a result, different MCOs may be providing services in current managed care service areas.

Provider transition training for STAR, STAR+PLUS, pharmacy, and children's dental services          Click here for recordings of webinars and training sessions.

Contact information for March 2012

• Managed Care Organizations - updated January 26, 2012
• Dental Plans - updated October 11, 2011
• MCO Pharmacy Benefit Managers - updated February 27, 2012

Service area maps and county lists effective March 2012

• STAR Service Areas
• STAR+PLUS Service Areas
• Medicaid Rural Service Area (MRSA) Regions

Details are available in this article, which was extracted from the January/February 2012 Texas Medicaid Bulletin.