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Executives and labor leaders at a group of skilled nursing homes in Connecticut that are set to lose Medicaid funding plan to challenge the state’s decision — they said otherwise, their nursing homes face severe financial cuts.“ The state has been trying to change the way that long-term care is done, and they’re trying to incentivize home care,” said Jesse Martin, vice president of labor union SEIU 1199NE. “There’s still a vital need for nursing homes in our society.” (Leonard, 8/22)

The state agency that oversees programs that deliver health care to about a quarter of Georgians isn’t ruling out job cuts to meet Gov. Brian Kemp’s edict to slash department budgets over the next two years.Kemp wants agencies throughout state government to cut spending 4 percent this fiscal year, which began July 1, and 6 percent next year. But he exempted big, enrollment-driven programs like Medicaid — which funds health care for the poor and disabled — and schools. He also exempted transportation and some other programs. (Salzer, 8/22)

A nearly quarter-of-a-million-dollar grant aims to increase the number of mental health and substance abuse providers who accept Medicaid across southern Colorado. The $242,758 grant from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing seeks to replicate the success of a similar program that showed signs of promise across the Pikes Peak region. The program provided technical assistance to leery providers, ultimately leading dozens of additional clinicians to start applying to receive Medicaid patients. (Rodgers, 8/22)