Missouri officials said Wednesday Medicaid applications are now being processed within the federally-mandated timeline of 45 days, a step towards bringing the state into compliance with a mitigation plan to address a backlog of applications.
Robert Knodell, the acting director of the Department of Social Services, broke the news to lawmakers Wednesday during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Appropriations.
鈥淚鈥檓 pleased to tell you today that that backlog is no more and we are now processing current Medicaid applications within the federal requirement of 45 days,鈥� Knodell told lawmakers, later adding: 鈥淭hankfully, now that backlog we are putting, as of this week, in the rearview mirror.鈥�
In an interview following Wednesday鈥檚 hearing, Knodell clarified that there are applications older than 45 days, but in those instances the department is still waiting on the applicant to provide additional information.
鈥淣obody has an untouched Medicaid application older than 45 days, as of today,鈥� Knodell said.
The state has a Sept. 30 deadline to wrangle its backlog of applications, after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took the unusual step of requiring a mitigation plan to get the state鈥檚 processing time 鈥� 鈥� down to a maximum of 45 days.
A spokesperson for CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In an interview, Kim Evans, the director of the Family Support Division, credited increased flexibility through the mitigation plan, like using information previously verified in other benefit programs, with helping process Medicaid applications as well as the work of department staff.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e really dug in, and just really they鈥檝e given us overtime,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e just really worked very hard.鈥�
Evans that the average time it took to process a Medicaid application was between 85 to 90 days, compared to the average of 106 days in July. A showed that roughly four in every five Medicaid applications in Missouri took longer than 45 days to process at the beginning of this year 鈥� eight times the national average.
Since July 1, 2021, the state has received over 280,000 applications for Medicaid, Evans said, with around 12,000 applications still pending as of Wednesday. As of Sept. 9, 236,677 individuals have been enrolled into the expanded Medicaid group, .
Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, said she was glad to see the state had reduced its backlog, but stressed that the federal guidelines need to be a baseline.
鈥淚 hope they鈥檒l continue to bring it down. In a lot of states it鈥檚 less than a week on average to process Medicaid applications,鈥� Unsicker said, later adding: 鈥淭hey need to aim higher.鈥�
Timothy McBride, a health policy analyst, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and former chair of the MO HealthNet Oversight Committee, said he recommends the state try to keep almost all the strategies in place that it鈥檚 implemented under the mitigation plan, especially with the open enrollment period beginning in November and the .
鈥淚t鈥檚 taken until now for them to catch up. We don鈥檛 want them to get through it now,鈥� McBride said of the backlog. 鈥淎nd then have it start all over again.鈥�
Staffing shortages have been a persistent issue that has contributed to the lengthy backlog of applications, and officials said those challenges still exist.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to fill positions, use creative strategies to recruit candidates, job fairs, workforce development pipelines, the usage of overtime when available within the confines of our system,鈥� Knodell said. 鈥淪o it remains a challenge.鈥�
On average, Evans said around 30 to 33 employees are leaving each month.
As part of the state鈥檚 mitigation plan with CMS, Evans said that any applications received prior to Aug. 16 needed to be completed to be within the 45-day timeframe. Evans said the state has a few remaining pieces of pending information to complete before the state can submit to CMS that it is compliant.
鈥淭hey want us to be under 45 days as of September 30. We will be,鈥� Knodell said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e happy to be there today. And we will be there on September 30 and moving forward.鈥�
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