Legislators sign off on Medicaid rate increase for COVID-19 vaccination

Legislators have given the Department of Health officials the green light to move forward on a plan to boost Medicaid rates for providers administering COVID-19 vaccines by $50 million, per a Monday letter.

The Joint Finance Committee signed off on an amendment to Wisconsin’s Medicaid State Plan that would affect healthcare providers who are eligible to administer a COVID-19 vaccine under their scope of practice.

DHS spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt said that the state has also begun receiving its initial allocation of 48,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson doses. She said Monday afternoon that 20 doses of the single-shot vaccine had been administered. They expect the number to climb toward the end of the week.

DHS reported 178 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, for a total of 566,871.

The state agency reported zero deaths. Wisconsin’s death toll from the virus remains at 6,481.

An additional 2,054 Wisconsinites were tested for COVID-19, for a total of 3,216,611.

DHS considers 6,580 cases active.

The seven-day average for daily new cases is 371, down 19 from Sunday and 239 from a week ago.

The seven-day average for daily new deaths is 10, the same as Sunday and down eight from a week ago.

As of Sunday, the seven-day positivity rate by test was 2.2 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from Saturday and the same as a week earlier, per preliminary data from DHS.

Wisconsin vaccinators administered 1,713,382 doses of COVID-19 vaccine through Sunday.

Per state data, 18.4 percent of the state’s population, or 1,072,650 Wisconsinites, have received first doses, and 10.4 percent, or 603,600 Wisconsinites, have completed the vaccine series.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association reported 255 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the state, up six from Sunday and down 32 from a week ago.

There 61 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, down five from Sunday and 12 from a week ago.