Reduced reimbursement rates are a common occurrence for most providers. As lawmakers seek to make up budget shortfalls, they tend to target the rates at which providers are paid. One of the unintended consequences is people of lower income levels are impacted the most, as physicians reduce Medicaid patients or stop taking them altogether. An excerpt from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Therapists stand to lose millions of dollars as Medicaid reimbursement rates for their services are slashed.
…
The average reduction for home health providers, for example, would be 35 percent. All told, the state plan calls for cutting $150 million a year for therapists; that is 19 percent of the $792 million they received last year.The state would save millions more with cuts in co-payments to physicians for people covered by both Medicaid and Medicare. But doctors say the proposed change will further push doctors from wanting to practice in less affluent parts of the state.
“It’s another small step in the direction of making it harder to practice medicine in Texas,” said Dr. Dee Dockery, a radiologist and councilor with the Texas Radiological Society.
Today, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission will conduct two hearings in Austin on the change in payments to occupational therapists.
