Pennsylvania’s plan to implement new contracts with HealthChoices physical health managed care plans on June 1 has been put on hold.
The reason: for the second time, companies that lost a public bidding process protested the state’s choices. The first time, the state threw out all the bids and started over again. This time the state says it needs more time to deal with the protests, negotiate new contracts, and get the new contractors up and running.
In addition to the delay, the new contracts will be phased in at different times in different parts of the state, with the first regional launch now scheduled for January of 2018 and the last a year later.
Learn more about why the new contracts have been delayed and how they will be implemented from this Philadelphia Inquirer article and this notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.