Approved the CON applications for 17 specialty care assisted living facilities. The Board received several comments opposing this rule during a public comment period and public hearing. These rules make ADEM's rules consistent with the federal EPA guidelines. Approved the Alabama Department of Public Health's controlled substance list for publishing. Approved to conduct a public comment period for new proposed rules for body art practice and facilities that were developed in accordance with Act 321 of the 2000 Legislative session.
Procedures covered by the rules include tattooing, body piercing, branding and scarification.
The following is a recap of the comments Mike Lewis, Medicaid Commissioner, made during a meeting this week of MASA's Medicaid Coalition, a coalition comprised of a number of organizations including the Alabama Hospital Association. Gave a brief financial report on the Medicaid Agency and what it would be requesting during the upcoming budget process. He said Medicaid continues to see a rise in eligible children and in the budgets for nursing home and pharmacy care. Reported that none of the tobacco money had been released to Medicaid yet, but that when it is released, the Agency plans to use it for general operations to make the budgets solvent through the next decade. It would not be earmarked for a specific program.