(Washington, DC) – In light of the United States Congress’ actions in ending the Federal Government shutdown and approval of the District’s budget for fiscal year 2014, the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) will immediately resume payments to all providers that deliver services to both Medicaid and Alliance beneficiaries. Payments will also resume to Medicaid beneficiaries that submitted claims for reimbursement for out of pocket expenses for health care services. “We are enormously grateful for the selfless efforts of our providers in protecting health care access for the District’s Medicaid and Alliance beneficiaries during this very difficult Government shutdown and we will begin processing your overdue payments immediately,” said Wayne Turnage, Director of the DHCF.

During the Government shutdown, providers were urged by DHCF to continue submitting claims which the agency processed through its Medicaid Management Information System and transmitted to the District’s System of Accounting and Reporting (SOAR). In restarting the payment process, the normal routine for processing payments will be discarded and DHCF’S Office of the Chief Financial Officer will release payments from SOAR today. Providers should expect to receive past due payments in two to three business days.