Update on Illinois Medicaid Legislation

The Illinois House and Senate passed a significant change to the Medicaid system on May 31, 2021. The new Medicaid legislation allows for reimbursement of chiropractic services. Watch the video to learn more!

Transcript:

We know that it’s unusual for us to be releasing videos on Tuesday, but there’s some exciting news that we wanted you to all be aware of. The short of it is this, late last night, both the House and the Senate here in Illinois passed a significant change to the Medicaid system and to reimbursement for chiropractic physician services. It’s actually very exciting. Basically, if you’re not aware with how this works, ultimately, we’ve been working on this for decades. You know, it’s been a long time and maybe never that all of our scope of practice has been covered under Medicaid or been allowed to be covered under Medicaid by statute, and it’s been over eight years now that there has not been reimbursement for the adjustment under Medicaid, and so at least for adults, that is, of course, under all kids, that’s a different story. But again, late last night, both the House and the Senate unanimously passed a large omnibus bill, a large package of different things regarding Medicaid that included a significant shift in policy and what’s allowable to be reimbursed to chiropractic physicians.

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So the way it works is, if you’re not aware, HFS or health, health, and family services, have you know the control over Medicaid and make determinations as far as medical policies and things along those lines, as far as what is going to be covered and what is a covered service, but they have to be allowed by the legislature to even get to that spot. So we’re really excited that last night, late again, what was passed was the addition for potential covered services, to include services performed by chiropractic physicians licensed under the Medical Practice Act of 1987 and acting within the scope of his or her license, including, but not limited to chiropractic, chiropractic manipulative treatment. So the CMT now is included. But in addition to that, what’s also potentially going to be available under the HFS rule is going to be the entire suite of services that you offer under your scope and your practice.

This is new that the second part, the part that deals with the full scope, is brand new, but the other is new, of course, for the last eight years, and something that we’ve been chasing, we believe that is incredibly important for an underserved population of individuals and those that are most desperate need of care here in Illinois, that we are going to be able to contribute to their to their health, and we believe that that’s an important, important change. It’s something we’ve been pursuing now. There are some additional steps that now, of course, if you’re not aware how some of this works, ultimately, when it comes down to Medicaid, you know, of course, all laws, once they’ve been passed, passed by both chambers, and the governor still has to sign it. The good news is the governor was in the room and a part of the decision to keep this provision in the omnibus bill. So we do anticipate that the governor will sign this bill because he and his staff were a part of the discussions to come up with what was going to be in that omnibus bill, which includes this significant change for chiropractic.

Now, the governor starts to sign the bill for it to become law, and then after that, HFS is going to have to be put together a plan that they will ultimately send then to the federal government or to CMS or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has the authority to be able to approve or not approve if you make changes to some of the plans, because the federal government actually funds about half of Medicaid and some other services as well, and so since they have a significant portion of funding, then they have to make a determination that the overlying plan that HFS gives them is still within the confines of federal law as well, which we anticipate that that’ll be an important part of the process as well. Lastly, then HFS is going to have to write rules surrounding exactly how this is going to work that will mirror what the Feds approve. And so it’s a multi-step process. But the first key part that we have not ever had, that I’m aware of any way that we’ve not ever had, is that part where ultimately all chiropractic services within your scope have the possibility of being reimbursed.

Now we start the process where we start to work with HFS to see what this is going to ultimately look like for chiropractic physicians here in Illinois, and most importantly, for your patients, and for those patients that desperately need your care, that are unable to afford your care. But now it looks like we’re going to have an avenue be able to help them and give them the assistance that they they desperately need. Right? And so we’re excited about that. Now, if you’re not aware Lindsay Waggahoff, who is our key lobbyist, would love to be a part of this video and making this announcement, but quite honestly, the Senate continued their session into today, and she is right now monitoring the Senate and continuing to protect chiropractic and make sure that your interests are also protected and your patients are protected as well in that process. So she wishes she could be here, but that’s why she’s not joining us. But we’re really excited. We didn’t want to wait any longer. We want to make sure that you knew that this is a huge deal, and you should celebrate. We’re excited for the chiropractor profession. We’re excited for the citizens of Illinois that are Medicaid recipients right now that desperately need your care and the care that you deliver to your patients already and we look forward to being able to help that.

Also want to give a quick special shout-out to our leadership in general, our board of directors, who has really kind of helped steer a lot of this and make sure that we maintain this track to be able to continue to improve chiropractic and make more availability for chiropractic services to all patients here in Illinois. Additionally, let me give a special shout-out to Dr. Vince Roberts, who’s been intimately involved in this process, in our discussions with our sponsor, Representative Gable as well as he testified in front of the Medicaid work group that came up with the omnibus bill. So he’s been an integral part. Dr Roberts has been an integral part to the advancement of this legislation and its ultimate passage in both chambers. And so I just wanted you to all be aware we’re excited to share this information, and now I do want to give you this that it’s going to be a little bit so don’t get excited that we’re going to get coverage tomorrow. But instead, it’s probably going to be at the very earliest, early 2022 and because of the the process and the potential red tape here, it could be even later in 2022 before ultimately, reimbursement will be available under the Medicaid system. But know that it’s coming in one form or another, and we will let you know as that kind of develops and as this whole process develops. We wanted you to share in our celebration and and also then you can begin to let your patients know that soon, at least within the next year or so, that ultimately your Medicaid population, or those around you that call for Medicaid will know that it is coming, and we look forward to serving that population and being and contributing to the overall health of Illinois. Thanks for everything you do, and we’ll catch you next week.