Physicians appeal to CMS over state cuts to Medicaid rates

Four major physician groups have asked federal health officials to take action to keep states from making cuts to Medicaid rates now in anticipation of the implementation of a final Equal Access rule. In a letter to CMS, the physician groups cited “the disturbing trend” of states cutting Medicaid payment rates in anticipation of the agency’s October 1 start date for a new rule that will require states to assess how payments impact access to care. In March and April, Oklahoma and North Dakota proposed cutting Medicaid payments by more than 25 percent and 47 percent respectively, to close gaps in their state budgets, the groups said. “Drastic cuts such as these will harm children, adolescents and adults and almost certainly cause clinicians to stop accepting Medicaid enrollees into their practices,” the letter said. The physician groups asked that CMS require that states use 2014 payment rates as a baseline to analyze access to care. “Otherwise states have the incentive to cut Medicaid payments now, before their state access plans are due to CMS, thereby creating a new, much lower baseline,” the letter said.