Healthcare Financial News

Emergency department (ED) visits by the uninsured in Oregon underwent an “abrupt and sustained” increase after the state’s Medicaid program made substantial cuts of more than 50,000 beneficiaries in 2003, report researchers in the April issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine.

The researchers studied hospital billing data on more than 2.5 million visits to 26 Oregon EDs, sampled up to two years before and two years after the cutbacks. They found that, after the policy changes, ED visits by the uninsured increased from 6,682 per month in 2002 to 9,058 per month in 2004. However, Medicaid and commercially insured visits decreased, resulting in a slight decrease in overall ED visits. Read the article.

CMS on April 17 announced grants of $50 million to 20 states to help improve access to primary medical care so that Medicaid beneficiaries could avoid improper use of costly hospital emergency departments. Created by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), the grants will help Medicaid programs fund local and rural initiatives to provide alternative healthcare settings for individuals with nonemergency medical needs.

The DRA provided $50 million to be distributed over four years (2006-09) for primary healthcare programs, primarily in rural and/or other underserved areas as well as programs that work closely with community hospitals.

Grantees will use the funds to establish new community health centers, extend the hours of operation at existing clinics, educate beneficiaries about new services, and provide for electronic health information exchange between facilities for better coordination of care. Read the CMS overview.