State Medicaid offices closed Sept. 4-7

Offices of the Washington State Medicaid program will be closed for an extra-long Labor Day weekend in part to accommodate a temporary layoff day intended to cut government costs in this year’s budget. Medicaid offices will reopen on Wednesday, September 8, at 8 a.m.

Interactive voice responses and self-service information on the program’s website and hotlines will be available from Saturday, Sept. 4, through Tuesday, Sept. 7, which is the actual temporary layoff say.

Medicaid’s toll-free phone number is 1-800-562-3022. The home page Web address is http://hrsa.dshs.wa.gov Clients and providers are encouraged to use the voice recordings and website to answer questions, especially during weekends and off hours.

Because the program normally receives heavier call volumes at the start of the workweek, telephone staff at the Customer Service Center phone lines will be on duty all day, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Wednesday, Sept. 8. The hours will return to normal times (7 a.m. to 1 p.m.) on Thursday and Friday.

During the long weekend, pharmacies should follow standard emergency fill procedures for Medicaid clients. The program guarantees payment for any good faith effort by a pharmacist to meet a client’s immediate need in an emergency. Under the emergency fill policy, pharmacies must contact the program to report the emergency fill within 72 hours of dispensing it.

The temporary layoff days are scheduled in law to occur about once a month over the next year, and the Medicaid program will shut its doors for all of them.

Future temporary layoff days are scheduled on Monday, October 11, 2010; Monday, December 27, 2010; Friday, January 28, 2011; Tuesday, February 22, 2011; Friday, March 11, 2011; Friday, April 22, 2011; Friday, June 10, 2011.

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