CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Affordable Care Act and the significant increase in Medicaid patients in West Virginia could have a major impact on medical providers with the state’s budget problems, according to some members of the medical community.
Health care providers in West Virginia received letters last week from the state Department of Health and Human Resources telling them there may be delayed Medicaid payments from the state in the future. The agency called it a proactive move.
“This may be just the beginning,” said Dr. Larry Dial, head of internal medicine at Marshall University, Monday on MetroNews “Talkline”.
With the Affordable Care Act and the decision by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to take the Medicaid option doctors are treating more Medicaid patients, Dial said.
“What it’s done is placed us in a position where we are much more at risk for these type of actions. So if our volume has went up and subsequently they are going to start to delay payments, I think it’s going to impact the bottom line,” Dial said.
Marshall University’s clinics have seen a 30 percent increase in Medicaid patients in the last two years.
The DHHR maintains the cash flow problem is in no way connected to the expansion. The state will begin allocating approximately $15 million to the expansion next fiscal year, DHHR Deputy Secretary Jeremiah Samples told MetroNews last week.
West Virginia Medical Association past-president Dr. Hoyt Burdick said on “Talkline” Monday some doctors may decide to stop treating Medicaid patients.
“There is a risk. If the practice business model is failing tough decisions have to sometimes be made,” Burdick said. “It’s not what we as physicians want to do but that’s the reality, the economic reality.”
Both Burdick and Dial support a $1.00 increase in the state cigarette tax. It would provide much needed revenue but also reduce health care costs, Burdick said.
“For every dollar spent on purchasing tobacco there’s $8 in health care costs,” Burdick said.
The Medicaid payments were made on time for April. Burdick said the payments are usually a little slower in the summer months.