A Hawaii OB-GYN can keep $205,000 in Medicaid payments after the state's supreme court ruled in a long-running dispute over which physicians can be considered primary care providers, the American Medical Association reported Jan. 18.
The AMA had filed an amicus brief in the case in 2017. The Hawaii Supreme Court handed down its decision in November.
The state ordered Frederick Nitta, MD, a Hawaii OB-GYN who spent more than 60 percent of his time providing primary care in medically underserved areas, to pay back increased Medicaid reimbursements provided by the ACA because he also specialized as an obstetric provider.
"Congress clearly intended the enhanced payments as incentives for the provision of primary care services, regardless of a physician's other practice areas," the Hawaii Supreme Court said in its ruling.
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