In a news release Friday, Gov. Haley Barbour said a federal agency has given the green light to an administrative solution for funding the Mississippi Medicaid program.

Barbour said it is "consistent with current state and federal law and can be implemented without legislative action."

According to the governor's office, the new plan does not eliminate the requirement for cuts in Medicaid expenditures. However, it said the federal government will replace virtually all of the cuts through an existing Medicaid program called UPL, or upper payment limit.

Current state law allows the state share of the funding for UPL to be collected through the existing gross revenue assessment on hospitals, according to the news release.

Barbour said the solution will generate $88 million of the $90 million shortfall in Mississippi's Medicaid program, and the other $2 million would come through cuts of less than 1 percent on other provider services.