Getty Images. Rebekah Scott, a mental health counselor in Nampa, was late for rent for three months. But since then, she said more checks have come in. And more are on the way.
But she says health officials have focused on whether patients are still getting services, and if Magellan is quickly working with providers on payment issues.
Its contract ended when Magellan took over in July. Idaho mental health providers worry pay could lapse amid Medicaid contractor change. While some providers have fared well under the new transition, Idaho Association of Community Providers lobbyist David Lehman said some are still trying to figure out how to get paid.
Hunt attributes the delayed payments to growing pains. She said a handful of providers decided not to offer behavioral health since the contractor shift, and that a couple of very small providers told her they closed.
Issues with medical payments are the norm, she said. Even in the three months she was late for rent while her payments from Magellan stalled, Scott says she kept seeing Medicaid patients. She scraped together enough to pay rent, using money from another job and money her disabled son chipped in from his job, she said. But she said she lost her car.
