CMS has approved plans from 48 states to start paying physicians higher Medicaid rates, according to a Kaiser Health News report.
Last year, CMS released a final rule under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in which all primary care physicians in the specialties of family medicine, general internal medicine or pediatric medicine (and related subspecialties) will be paid Medicare rates for Medicaid primary care services for calendar years 2013 and 2014. Although the raised rates were supposed to take effect in January, most states had not begun the higher payment rates, which reflect an average increase of 73 percent.
According to KHN, CMS said every state except California and Alaska is set to start the physician pay raises this summer. Previous reports indicated physicians would receive retroactive payment as well.
The delay has lasted more than seven months due to several reasons, according to the report. Medicare does not cover all services Medicaid does, and private Medicaid managed care companies pay many physicians per diem rates instead of individual service rates.
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