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Press ReleaseFor Immediate ReleaseAugust 17, 2006 Low Medicaid Reimbursement Limits Access to Vermont Physicians Montpelier – Vermont’s Medicaid beneficiaries are having a harder time finding physicians to care for them than Medicaid recipients in other parts of the country, a new national report indicates.
The survey by the Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, D.C., found that nationally 21 percent of physicians closed their practices to new Medicaid patients in 2004-2005. That compares to 30 percent of Vermont primary care physicians who were not accepting new Medicaid patients in 2004, according to the Vermont Department of Health’s physician survey.
The percentage of Vermont physicians who are not accepting new Medicaid patients has doubled since 1996, when only 14 percent of practices were closed to new Medicaid patients.
A major reason for this trend is low Medicaid payment for services. The Center for Studying Health System Change found that 84 percent of the physicians who are not accepting new Medicaid patients say inadequate reimbursement is a moderate or very important reason.
In Vermont, low Medicaid reimbursement is also the driving factor behind access problems. Medicaid pays Vermont physicians slightly more than half what private insurance pays, and about two-thirds what Medicare pays.
Vermont has the highest percentage of residents on Medicaid in the country, with the program responsible for paying 25 percent of all health expenditures. This creates a heavy burden for independent practitioners who have a large number of patients on Medicaid.
“With the costs of running a practice increasing every year, including rent, labor, and medical malpractice insurance, Vermont’s independent physicians are being squeezed,” said Paul Harrington, executive vice president of the Vermont Medical Society. “Because of low Medicaid reimbursement, more and more physicians are making the difficult decision to limit how many Medicaid patients they can see.”
Vermont’s General Assembly in the last session did add $5 million to the Medicaid budget, which will bring Medicaid payment to 58 percent of private insurance rates beginning next January. Medicaid currently pays 67 percent of what Medicare does, and that will increase to 73 percent in January.
“While the increases in reimbursement are certainly a step in the right direction, we have a long way to go until Medicaid reaches parity with Medicare,” said Harrington. “Parity between Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement is necessary in order to improve access to physician services in Vermont.” -30- For more information, contact: Steve Larose, Communications Director |
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