Winneshiek Medical Center is among the 6,000 Iowa health care providers waiting for payments from the state's Medicaid private managed care organizations

Winneshiek Medical Center says it is still owed $70,000 in payments from the three private management companies hired by the State of Iowa to supervise Iowa's $5 billion Medicaid program. 

Winneshiek Medical Center Chief Financial Officer Lynn Luloff says the hospital is owed $70,000 in payments from UnitedHealthcare, Amerigroup and AmeriHealth.  She says she and other hospital officials have contacted area legislators in an attempt to speed up payments, but still have numerous invoices that are 90 days or more past due. 

Luloff says it's not just a case of the money that is owed to WMC, but also a case of the additional hours of staff times which have been spent trying to collect the money.  She says it's also been a frustrating situation for the staff, which works hard to make sure the hospital gets the money it is owed.

The Medicaid private management has been a controversial system in Iowa since the state switched away from state supervision of the Medicaid program.  Proponents of the change to supervision by private companies said the new system would save money for the state, but opponents of the system say it has resulted in less care for Medicaid patients and slower payments to health providers.