Seeking to slash billions from the state’s $50 billion Medicaid program, Gov. Cuomo is turning to a health administrator with a proven track record — in Wisconsin.
Jason Helgerson, the state’s new Medicaid director, slashed the Badger State’s program by 10 percent, or about $600 million a year, without gutting health-care services for the needy.
“I’m a big believer that bad budgets can create big opportunities,” Helgerson said in an interview last year. “You really have to convince stakeholders that the reductions are necessary. They have to be made. The question is how.”
He’ll head a panel that will include industry execs and labor leaders. Their task? To recommend how best to squeeze $2 billion out of the “bloated” system.
In Wisconsin, hundreds of ideas were solicited from industry insiders and the public. Among those implemented: Pay doctors based on performance, not on quantity of procedures.