Government
Ohio delays Medicaid doctor pay hikes
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 17, 2007
Higher-than-expected Medicaid enrollment has led the Ohio Dept. of Jobs and Family Services and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland to delay a 3% increase in Medicaid physician payment and program eligibility expansions. In recent months, Medicaid enrollment has been about 1%, or 15,000 people, higher than planned in the fiscal 2008-09 budget, said Family Services spokesman Dennis Evans. "It's something that gives us pause. We need to have a better handle on that before moving forward with the increases," Evans said.
Ohio State Medical Assn. President Craig W. Anderson, MD, was disappointed with the announcement, made late last month. "The trust between Ohio's physicians and state government has been violated. We negotiated in good faith throughout the budget process and were promised an increase after seven years of flat and inadequate funding that now has been frozen by the administration," he said.
Evans emphasized that the pay increases had not been canceled but only postponed.
He said it wasn't clear when the Strickland administration will make a final decision on the issue. Also delayed are Medicaid eligibility expansions from 200% to 300% for children and from 150% to 200% for pregnant women, among others.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/12/17/gvbf1217.htm.
