Comments on: New York joins the folly of cutting Medicaid payments http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/12/new-york-joins-folly-of-cutting.html medical blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:59:44 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/12/new-york-joins-folly-of-cutting.html/comment-page-1#comment-88625 Anonymous Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:07:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/12/new-york-joins-the-folly-of-cutting-medicaid-payments.html#comment-88625 I am a family practitioner in upstate New york, so I know this topic very well. As bad as medicaid is, "rich", "enlightened" New York State has one of the worst medicaid program in the country. For example, the average time for claims proocessing is almost 115 days!<br/><br/>Primary care visits are reimbursed at approximately 30 dollars a visit, regardless of complexity. Many preventative services are not covered.<br/><br/>Only an idiot practicing in New York would accept medicaid.<br/><br/>Why is medicaid worse than usual in our state? I am not sure, but one possible explanation is "Article 28" clinics, usually run by hospitals and teaching programs, that have been filling in the gaps. However, these tend to be bloated bureaucracies that are far from cost effective. In typical "shock doctrine" style, maybe starving these beasts is necessary.<br/><br/>The irony is that if medicaid reimbursement to primary care was fair, these patients would be getting exemplary care in private offices and overall keep costs low.<br/><br/>Ho-hum. How short sighted can politicians and state governments be? I am a family practitioner in upstate New york, so I know this topic very well. As bad as medicaid is, “rich”, “enlightened” New York State has one of the worst medicaid program in the country. For example, the average time for claims proocessing is almost 115 days!

Primary care visits are reimbursed at approximately 30 dollars a visit, regardless of complexity. Many preventative services are not covered.

Only an idiot practicing in New York would accept medicaid.

Why is medicaid worse than usual in our state? I am not sure, but one possible explanation is “Article 28″ clinics, usually run by hospitals and teaching programs, that have been filling in the gaps. However, these tend to be bloated bureaucracies that are far from cost effective. In typical “shock doctrine” style, maybe starving these beasts is necessary.

The irony is that if medicaid reimbursement to primary care was fair, these patients would be getting exemplary care in private offices and overall keep costs low.

Ho-hum. How short sighted can politicians and state governments be?

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/12/new-york-joins-folly-of-cutting.html/comment-page-1#comment-88615 Anonymous Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:17:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/12/new-york-joins-the-folly-of-cutting-medicaid-payments.html#comment-88615 Private practice physicians will be fine. <br/><br/>Employed physicians in hospitals and large multispecialty groups will now need an even bigger internal subsidy to keep their primary care clinics afloat. This will increase the pressure to see more patients faster, reduce staff, or make other cuts. The money has to come from somewhere. Private practice physicians will be fine.

Employed physicians in hospitals and large multispecialty groups will now need an even bigger internal subsidy to keep their primary care clinics afloat. This will increase the pressure to see more patients faster, reduce staff, or make other cuts. The money has to come from somewhere.

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