Subcommittee approves two Medicaid billing navigator positions at DOE to help school divisions claim federal dollars

The subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend reporting S.B. 73, a bill that would establish two Medicaid billing navigator positions at the Department of Education to provide centralized technical assistance, training and compliance support so local school divisions can capture eligible federal Medicaid reimbursements.

Sponsor testimony laid out the administrative challenge: many divisions lack dedicated staff and expertise to navigate Medicaid billing, and recent federal guidance expanded the types of school-based services that can be claimed. The sponsor said the two FTEs would cost about $281,000 per year but are expected to generate multiple times that return to school divisions in federal reimbursements.

Supporters including school nurses, Richmond City’s Medicaid coordinator and education associations said centralized help would increase compliance and funding access for services such as speech therapy, nursing and behavioral health. Richmond’s Medicaid coordinator reported that Medicaid billing returned about $3 million in one fiscal year for her division and argued similar capacity statewide would yield substantial revenue.

The committee approved reporting S.B. 73 5–0 and sent the measure forward for further consideration.