BOSTON—Massachusetts is planning to streamline the way it provides health care to more than 100,000 low-income and disabled adults, who often have trouble navigating a confusing bureaucratic maze of sometimes contradictory regulations.
The goal is to both improve quality and cut costs.
The adults, including people with mental illness, drug and alcohol addictions, and development disabilities, are enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare. The state and federally run programs often have different rules and pay for different services.
The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/rJofGw) reports Thursday that Gov. Deval Patrick's administration will release a draft within two weeks of a plan to enroll most of those patients in a network of providers that would receive one payment to provide all services to a patient, including medical and dental care and support services.
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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe
