As Medicaid Rolls Swell, Cuts in Payments to Doctors Threaten Access to Care

[PoliticAverse]

WASHINGTON — Just as millions of people are gaining insurance through Medicaid, the program is poised to make deep cuts in payments to many doctors, prompting some physicians and consumer advocates to warn that the reductions could make it more difficult for Medicaid patients to obtain care.

The Affordable Care Act provided a big increase in Medicaid payments for primary care in 2013 and 2014. But the increase expires on Thursday — just weeks after the Obama administration told the Supreme Court that doctors and other providers had no legal right to challenge the adequacy of payments they received from Medicaid.

The impact will vary by state, but a study by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, estimates that doctors who have been receiving the enhanced payments will see their fees for primary care cut by 43 percent, on average.

Stephen Zuckerman, a health economist at the Urban Institute and co-author of the report, said Medicaid payments for primary care services could drop by 50 percent or more in California, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, among other states.

Read the rest at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/us/obamacare-medicaid-fee-increases-expiring.html?_r=1

[Bill USA]

1. in 2010 there were 86k Physician Assistants & Nurse practicioners practicing primary care medicine

Maybe use of PAs or Nurse Practitioners could help the situation.



http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/factsheets/primary/pcwork2/index.html

In 2010, approximately 56,000 nurse practitioners and 30,000 physician assistants were practicing primary care in the United States, according to research commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.