BELIEVE GUATEMALA
EIGHT TO STATE
A valentine dinner and fundraiser was held Friday in Creston for Believe Guatemala, a nonprofit Christian ministry that works in poor communities in Guatemala City. See photo on 10A. >>
The Creston/O-M wrestling team crowned six individual champions and had two runner-up finishes on its way to the district team title Saturday. Story on 5A.
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Branstad: Inmates to pay cheaper telephone rates
As the March 1 rollout of Iowa’s privatized Medicaid system draws nearer, some southwest Iowans say it’s happening too quickly.
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CNA photo by IAN RICHARDSON
Greater Regional Medical Center has signed with two of the three private managed care organizations (MCOs) that will run Iowa’s $4.2 billion Medicaid program March 1. Greater Regional’s Chief Financial Officer Matt McCutchan said the hospital continues to work with the third MCO and will make an announcement if a contract is reached.
Medicaid: Will it be ready? By IAN RICHARDSON a lot of people that things health.” weren’t ready,” Shipley said Provider networks CNA staff reporter
irichardson@crestonnews.com
P
ending federal approval, March 1 is the date three national managed care organizations (MCOs) will begin to manage services for those served by Iowa’s $4.2 billion Medicaid program. But as the clock continues ticking, some southwest Iowans, including a local senator, are questioning whether the switch is happening too fast. Thursday, the Iowa Senate voted 29-19 to pass a bill that would terminate contracts with each of the three MCOs, essentially starting the privatization process over. Among those voting for the bill was Sen. Tom Shipley of Nodaway, one of only three Republicans to support it. “I just was hearing from
Saturday. “There were a lot of questions unanswered, and a lot of things needed to get done first.” S p e cifically, S h i p ley said, Shipley there’s still a lack of health care providers who have signed contracts with one or more of the MCOs. “Providers weren’t signed up yet — hospitals and doctors — and just a lot of it’s very confusing,” Shipley said. “(Saturday) morning I was in Council Bluffs for a forum, and there were some hospitals represented there that haven’t all been signed up. It’s just a very confusing situation at this point. It’s tragic to have that when you’re dealing with people’s
Locally, Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston has signed agreements with two MCOs. Chief Financial Officer Matt McCutchan said Greater Regional is still in negotiations with the third, Amerigroup, and will notify patients and the press if an agreement is reached. Iowa Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy McCoy said Wednesday that more than 88 percent of health care providers who have been active for the past year have signed with at least one MCO. Seventy percent have signed with two, and 60 percent have signed with all three. From her perspective, it’s moving along well, and the department is working to gain federal approval soon. “It’s a pretty good amount of contracts, really,” McCoy said. “It’s doubled since December. We feel very con-
“It’s just a very confusing situation at this point. It’s tragic to have that when you’re dealing with people’s health.” — Tom Shipley
Iowa senator
fident that we’ll be ready March 1.” However, there are still some locally that have not signed with any. At Crossroads Mental Health Care, a community mental health center in Creston serving Madison, Clarke, Union, Adams, Taylor and Adair counties, director Peter Brantner said the company is still working out details with the three MCOs. He said he believes the center will sign MEDICAID | 2A
DES MOINES (AP) — Prison inmates in Iowa are paying cheaper telephone rates to talk to their families under a recent rule change that Gov. Terry Branstad has publically highlighted as part of his administration’s efforts to enact criminal justice reform, but the change was also federally mandated. In January, the Iowa Board of Corrections removed a flat telephone rate of $2.90 per call and lowered it to 11 cents per minute for local and long distance calls in the United States. Branstad highlighted the Branstad change in his Condition of the State address when he specified criminal justice reform efforts in Iowa. The Federal Communications Commission adopted changes in October that ordered prisons around the country to cap such calls at 11 cents per minute. The changes must go into effect by March. They include a ban on flat rates as used in Iowa, which charged inmates a certain amount regardless of time spent on the phone. The telephone rate change comes amid a heightened focus on criminal justice reforms around the country.
In its ruling, the FCC noted that contact between inmates and their loved ones reduces recidivism, and high telephone rates made that needed communication unaffordable. The FCC began seriously examining the issue in 2013, with public notices that put prisons on notice. Ben Hammes, the governor’s spokesman, said there’s no correlation between Iowa’s phone rate change and the federal requirement. He referenced Branstad’s ongoing communication with a working group created in August, and he said the governor specified to the group a need to lower prison telephone rates. Hammes also said the corrections department had planned to lower the telephone rates on its own. “It was coincidental,” he said. “We were working on it before then.” Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections, said the change was greatly influenced by the actions of the FCC. He said the state’s prison system has lowered telephone rates over several years as the FCC gave more indications it was monitoring the issue, and it culminated with October’s order. “We lowered them again when we found out what the actual deadline was going to be,” he said.
King & queen
CNA photo by SCOTT VICKER
CNA photo by KELSEY HAUGEN
Royal couple: Jean and Gene Miller of Creston are all smiles after being crowned 2016 King and Queen of Hearts at Creston Specialty Care Friday morning. Residents voted to decide which married couple would be crowned, and the Millers, who have been married 31 years, were the winners out of 12 couples.
Magical night: Steve “Magic” McCann of Creston, fourth from left, displays several gifts given to him during a
pregame ceremony in his honor at Friday’s Diagonal vs. Mormon Trail boys basketball game. McCann, who is undergoing treatments for cancer, was honored for his 44 years of officiating high school athletics. Pictured are, from left: Diagonal senior Jacob Taylor, officials Jeff Vietz and Scott Busch, McCann and official Gary Dinkla. McCann received a basketball signed by athletes from several area schools from Taylor, a framed officials uniform from Les Elliott and a plaque commemorating his 44 years of officiating high school athletics from Busch. More on the ceremony and Diagonal’s win on 6A.
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Volume 132 No. 182
2016
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