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Louisiana Medicaid managed care contract awards thrown out

Tregre says the department failed to follow state law or its own evaluation and bid guidelines in determining which private companies should receive contracts.
Credit: AP
FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Louisiana Health Secretary Rebekah Gee answers questions from the joint House and Senate budget committee about new contract awards for the Medicaid managed care program in Baton Rouge, La. Gee, who launched the Democrat's Medicaid expansion program but faced repeated criticism from Republicans about her management of it, is leaving the Edwards administration as the governor begins his second term in office. Gee, a medical doctor who has led the Department of Health since 2016, is resigning from the position effective Jan. 31, the governor's office announced Monday, Jan. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte, File)

BATON ROUGE, La. — Multibillion-dollar Medicaid contracts awarded by Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration have been scrapped. 

Louisiana's chief procurement officer Paula Tregre determined the health department mishandled the bid process for deals to provide health services to 1.5 million people. 

Tregre says the department failed to follow state law or its own evaluation and bid guidelines in determining which private companies should receive contracts to manage care for most of Louisiana's Medicaid patients. 

She issued her decision late Friday. It can be appealed. Tregre says the health department will have to redo the bid process. 

The decision won't disrupt Medicaid services. 

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