Temporary Medicaid Pay Hike

Interesting article regarding how the temporary pay hike in Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care doctors may affect access to care. The ACA has a provision which will raise rates for primary care doctors beginning on January 1, paid for by the feds - however, this is a short-term fix and will only be implemented for the next two years. While it is intended to encourage more physicians to accept Medicaid, for which rates are so low that many refuse to take it - there are several questions raised about how many doctors will actually be incentivized to participate. One question is regarding the temporal aspect of the pay hike - two years is a limited time frame with no guarantee that states will continue the pay hike. Not to mention the uncertainty with the impending election - if Romney is elected, what will happen to this provision?

With California gearing up for the Medicaid expansion, I think it is crucial that we consider long-term solutions and innovations to motivate doctors, particularly primary care, to accept Medi-Cal. With California having some of the worst Medicaid reimbursement rates in the country, any temporary pay hike that returns to previous levels could have serious consequences on access issues. One suggestion would be updating California's Relative Value Scale, which is highly outdated and should account for geographic disparities.