ALBANY - New York has submitted an application for a waiver from the federal government that will allow the state to invest up to $10 billion in savings generated by the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) reforms to implement an action plan to transform the state's health care system.

The Medicaid 1115 waiver amendment will enable New York to fully implement the MRT action plan, facilitate innovation, and lower health care costs over the long term. The waiver application submitted today by New York State requests that the federal government allow the state to reinvest over a five-year period up to $10 billion of the $17.1 billion in federal savings generated by MRT reforms.

"The reforms put in place by the Medicaid Redesign Team have already resulted in major savings for taxpayers and better quality of care for New Yorkers," Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "This waiver amendment will allow New York State to fully implement the groundbreaking MRT action plan to permanently restructure our health care system and continue to make New York a national model."

The initiatives proposed by the MRT - and adopted by the Legislature last year - have led to major savings for state and federal taxpayers. MRT initiatives are projected to save $34.3 billion over the next five years - divided between the State and federal government. If not for these MRT initiatives, state spending would have grown by $2.3 billion in the 2011-12 fiscal year alone.

The waiver amendment’s broad objectives are consistent with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS ) Triple Aim: better health, better care, and lower costs. New York will use federal dollars generated through MRT savings to reinvest in the state’s health care system.

Key strategies outlined in the waiver amendment document include:

· Major investments to expand access to high quality primary care

· Grants to establish Health Homes to improve the quality of care for the state’s highest need/highest costs patients

· Expanding resources available to transform and protect safety net providers

· Positioning and preparing health care providers and consumers for long term care integration to managed care

· Innovations in public health strategies that will generate significant, long-term Medicaid savings

· Training and support to ensure that New York has the workforce it needs to thrive as national health care reform is implemented

· Thorough and rigorous evaluation of both new and ongoing MRT initiatives to ensure the wise investment of taxpayers’ contributions and to enhance patient outcomes

· Strategies that will reduce hospital readmissions and help protect patients from getting sick during their hospital stay