Ch. 429                                    2004 LAWS OF MARYLAND

Hygiene request a federal waiver that
allows the State to start the penalty
period for inappropriate asset transfers in
the month the individual qualifies for
Medicaid.

The Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene and the Department of Budget
and Management shall jointly explore the
possibility of developing a single preferred
drug list for the State employees'
prescription drug program and Medicaid.
The departments shall submit the report
and a timetable for implementing a
preferred drug list to the Senate Finance
Committee, the House Health and
Government Operations Committee, and
the budget committees by July 1, 2004.

M00Q01.02 Office of Operations and Eligibility
General Fund Appropriation, provided that
the Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene shall submit a report to the
budget committees, Senate Finance
Committee, and House Health and
Government Operations Committee on
the timeliness of payments to nursing
homes and providers of home and
community based services. The report
shall specify the frequency with which
providers are not reimbursed within 30
days of delivering services to a Medicaid
eligible individual. The report shall also:
identify alternatives for achieving prompt
payment to providers; consider the
possibility of making interest payments to
providers; detail efforts to create a
working fund for providers that
experience payment delays; and detail a
time frame for resolving the problem of
untimely payments to providers. The

report shall be submitted by October 1,

2004..........................

Federal Fund Appropriation..........................

- 1692 -

10,702,374
10,612,374
20,005,556	30,707,930
19,915,556	30,527,930