MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The state DHHR held a meeting earlier this week where they proposed a bill that would give local health departments more flexibility to bill insurance companies.
Bill Kearns, the Administrator of Finances for the Berkeley and Morgan County Health Departments, says that 48 out of the 49 health departments already bill insurance companies like Medicaid.
“No matter how much you actually bill them, [the health departments] are capped at a maximum of how much they can bill. To give an example, for an immunization’s administrative fee the maximum that Medicaid will pay you is $12 per shot.” he said.
Dr. Diana Gaviria, the Health Officer for the Berkeley Health Department, agrees that this bill shouldn’t negatively impact their branch very much, but says it won’t help either.
She says, “I don’t think this will, for any of the health departments, offset all of the loss from this budget cut – which took us somewhat by surprise that it was as large as it is.”
The department is facing a 25 percent budget cut in state funding for all county health departments, according to the governor’s proposed budget for next year.