Medicaid documentation requirements enacted by Congress in 2006 are already having a major and measurable impact on health centers and their patients, according to a new analysis issued by The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Results from this initial national impact assessment, the first study to systematically study the effects of documentation, show that more than 90 percent of all health centers report enrollment difficulties for patients of all ages, including newborn children; also, more than 43 percent of health centers report that patients are experiencing a longer enrollment and/or application process.
The immediate estimated impact of the new documentation requirements is the loss of Medicaid coverage for some period of time for between 2.2 percent and 6.7 percent of all Medicaid enrolled patients. This estimate is considered conservative and does not take into account the impact of the changes on newborn children or new applicants. Between 105,100 and 319,500 Medicaid patients, including up to 212,400 children and 107,100 adults, are expected to be affected.
However, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokeswoman Mary Kahn said that CMS “cannot substantiate the claims in the study as we have not gotten any supporting data from the states.” She added that CMS has “worked cooperatively with partners and interest groups in writing regulations that give states as much flexibility as possible under a fairly proscriptive piece of legislation” and that states have been instructed to help individuals having problems obtaining items such as birth records. Download the report.
