Medicaid Reimbursement Rates – Texas

Texas doctors threaten to drop Medicaid out of fear of more fee cuts, By Robert T. Garrett, July 12, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Doctors in the Dallas area and across Texas are threatening to opt out of Medicaid because of payment cuts, which would further damage the state’s already uneven delivery of health care to the poor. The 1 percent trim to provider fees that starts Sept. 1 sounds modest. But doctors, insurance industry officials and health care experts widely see it as the first of many hits coming to doctors’ wallets as Texas’ fiscal woes deepen. State leaders’ instructions for agencies to identify additional 10 percent budget cuts in the next two-year budget cycle mean more fee cuts may come next summer. Experts say further reductions could drive off doctors, dump more patients on hospital emergency rooms and ensure a rocky start for the federal health care overhaul, which by conservative estimates could add 1.5 million Texans to Medicaid by 2015. The cut demonstrates a potentially recurring problem with budget cuts as state leaders contemplate a shortfall that could hit $18 billion: Cuts that lawmakers make now to programs that are already stretched thin could cause deeper long-term woes…”