AmeriHealth, Winneshiek Medical Center sign contract covering Medicaid patients

Winneshiek Medical Center has signed a contract with a second private company chosen by the State of Iowa to supervise the state's Medicaid program.

WMC Chief Financial Officer Lynn Luloff says the hospital and clinic now have a contract with AmeriHealth Caritas.  WMC had previous signed a contract with United Healthcare Plan.
 
The State of Iowa originally chose four companies as private firms overseeing Iowa's Medicaid program, which serves around 550,000 people in the state.  However, a judge threw out a contract with one of the four firms, WellCare.  WMC's Luloff says there are no plans for the hospital and clinic to sign a contract with the fourth company, AmeriGroup Iowa.  That company has contracts with health care providers mostly outside of NE Iowa.  It also disclosed in its application that its parent company, Amerigroup, has been hit with more than $4.7 million in fines.

WMC's Luloff recently said WMC will not turn away Medicaid patients who are customers of a company that does not have a contract with the hospital.  Winneshiek Medical Center will get paid 10 percent less for those patients, however.