ATLANTA – A Senate panel wants to step up coordination and data gathering before talking seriously about going to the federal government with a request for greater Medicaid flexibility in Georgia. 

“Everybody wants to talk about waivers,” Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, said Monday at the final meeting of the Senate’s Health Care Reform Task Force, which has been meeting for the last year. 

“Waivers – at this point in my mind – is kind of getting the cart before the horse because they’re highly, highly technical,” Burke said.

The task force’s report, which was released Monday, noted two different waiver options: One lets a state experiment with restructuring its health-care market. Another allows a state to try different approaches to Medicaid, such as adding work requirements. 

Georgia was one of the states that did not expand the state’s insurance program for the poor and disabled under the Affordable Care Act, which would have extended health-care coverage to more people. 

“By seeking waivers to implement reforms that empower our state to take ownership from one-size-fits-all federal programs and policies, I am hopeful we will develop new delivery models for care that better meet the needs of Georgians throughout our state,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who chaired the task force and who is a candidate for governor, said at the meeting. 

Burke said afterwards that it would be difficult to pursue a waiver this legislative session, which started Monday. Rather, the panel sees an opportunity to possibly tee up the issue for next year, he said. 

“I think we need to know what our goals are before we start writing waivers,” Burke said at the meeting. 

In the meantime, the panel has recommended creating two new entities, including a think tank called the Health System Innovation Center that would focus, in part, on rural Georgia. 

Another is a council that Gov. Nathan Deal would appoint and would serve as a leading panel for all of the health-care efforts already underway. Cagle said no additional state funds would be needed. 

“In our mind, this has got to be driven from the executive branch,” said Burke, who is carrying the measure and who serves on the task force. “This has got to be a priority of the state.” 

The council and center would work together to develop a strategic plan for the state. Burke said he sees the work as being the necessary legwork for a possible waiver application. 

“You can’t fix things when you don’t know where you are today,” Burke said. “None of this is sexy, but we’ve got to do a really hard look at what exactly Georgia is doing now.”

Lawmakers have no shortage of potential ideas for waivers. A rural Georgia-focused panel in the House recommended using a waiver as a way to pilot new health-care strategies in the outer reaches of the state. A waiver has also been floated as a way to target substance abuse. 

Other legislative measures tied to the task force expected this year include a large bill focused on the state’s emerging opioid crisis and another focused on children’s mental health. 

Another bill focused on state data was filed last year. If approved, summarized Medicaid and other state health data could possibly be provided to the Health System Innovation Center for analysis.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s newspapers and websites.