


* Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado
American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, Illinois
| ABSTRACT |
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Methods. Survey data collected from 3773 primary care pediatricians who practice in private office-based settings were analyzed with Medicaid physician payment data from other sources. Univariate analyses and a multiple regression were used to examine the effects of payment level, prevalence of capitated Medicaid payment, and paperwork concerns on private primary care pediatricians participation in state Medicaid programs.
Results. Results revealed substantial state-to-state variation in respondents participation in Medicaid. Univariate analyses found that participation increased with state Medicaid payment levels but decreased as the proportion of Medicaid enrollees with primary care capitated payments rose and as paperwork concerns increased. With physician workforce held constant, a regression analysis showed that pediatrician participation in Medicaid increased significantly with Medicaid payment but decreased as the proportion of capitated Medicaid patients increased and as paperwork concerns rose.
Conclusions. This study found that low payment, capitation, and paperwork concerns all relate to low Medicaid participation by primary care office-based pediatricians. It behooves state policy makers to address these 3 factors to ensure sufficient primary care physician capacity to serve appropriately children who are enrolled in state Medicaid programs.
Key Words: Medicaid provider participation physician payment paperwork burden capitated payments
Abbreviations: AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics AMA, American Medical Association
| INTRODUCTION |
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Although states have the responsibility to design and implement their Medicaid programs for children, the enabling Title XIX federal legislation addresses the need for equity by requiring states to ensure that Medicaid-eligible children have access to care and services to the same extent as other children in the geographic area. The law as specified in 42 USCA
1396a(a)(30)(A) explicitly states that the care and services under the Medicaid program are to be available "at least to the extent that such care and services are available to the general public in the geographic area." This "equal access" federal statute has special relevance for access by Medicaid beneficiaries to private primary care pediatricians and family physicians. The majority of children in the United States receive their preventive health care from private primary care pediatricians or family physicians. According to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, >80% of ambulatory pediatric primary care visits took place in private physician offices in 1998.2 Compliance with the law necessitates that children who have their insurance paid by Medicaid have the same choice of primary care physicians as do children with private insurance. Thus, it is critical to have the participation of pediatricians in private office settings in Medicaid if states are to maintain sufficient capacity to ensure equal access to care. Access to private primary care physicians not only satisfies the equal access requirement but also is a cost-effective way to ensure that children receive the services they need. Research has shown that having a private practice physician as a usual source of care can decrease total Medicaid expenses by one third.3
The goal of this study was to document the current level of participation of private office-based primary care pediatricians in state Medicaid programs and to determine how variations in payment levels, prevalence of capitated managed care, and concerns with Medicaid administrative policies and procedures influence Medicaid participation rates across states. Previous studies have found private practice physicians unwilling to participate fully in the Medicaid program for reasons related to reimbursement, paperwork burden, practice capacity, and others.46 This study assessed the following 3 hypotheses while controlling for child health care physician workforce ratio, a factor underlying the supply of physician services and potentially affecting physician acceptance of patients independent of issues examined in this article:
Hypothesis 1: States with higher primary care-related physician payments will have a higher proportion of primary care private office-based pediatricians who accept all Medicaid children seeking care in their practice.
Hypothesis 2: States with more efficient administrative systems and less physician concerns with paperwork burdens will have a higher proportion of primary care private office-based pediatricians who accept all Medicaid children seeking care in their practice.
Hypothesis 3: States that have a lower proportion of Medicaid enrollees in managed care plans with primary care capitated payments will have a higher proportion of primary care private office-based pediatricians who accept all Medicaid children seeking care in their practice.
| METHODS |
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To assess how representative the AAP Survey respondents were of the nations pediatricians, we compared characteristics of the 2000 AAP survey respondents to American Medical Association (AMA) published statistics of US pediatricians from 1998 to 1999.7,8 Results of the comparison (Table 1) suggest that respondents to the AAP Survey resemble pediatricians in the nation in terms of gender distribution (46.3% vs 47.9% female), employee status (50.0% vs 50.4% employee), and age distribution for pediatricians ages 35 through 64. There were fewer AAP Survey respondents in the youngest (<35) and the oldest (
65) age categories. The underrepresentation of pediatricians younger than 35 likely accounted for a lower proportion of residents (7.8% vs 16.9%) and a smaller percentage of international medical graduates (22.4% vs 33.7%) among the AAP Survey respondents.
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State child health care physician workforce ratios were obtained from an AAP workforce report based on US Census Bureau projections of the 1998 child population and the 1998 AMA Masterfile of pediatricians and family and general practice physicians.10
Study Population
To examine Medicaid participation among private primary care pediatricians in this study, we excluded all pediatric subspecialists as well as primary care pediatricians who practice primarily in safety net settings, which include medical schools and local, state, or US government hospitals and clinics. Of a total of 7149 survey respondents in direct patient care, 4282 (59.9%, unweighted) are primary care pediatricians. Among this group, 3773 (88.1%) practice primarily in private office-based settings, including solo, 2-physician, pediatric group, and multispecialty group practices; health maintenance organizations; and private hospitals. Participation data used in this analysis are based on the last group only.
Outcome Measures: Program Participation
On the basis of the AAP participation survey, 2 alternative measures of private office-based primary care pediatrician participation in Medicaid are used in this study. The first, "full participation," refers to the proportion of private office-based primary care pediatricians in the state who accept all Medicaid patients who request care. The second, "relative participation," refers to the ratio of pediatricians who accept all Medicaid patients versus those who accept all non-Medicaid patients. A ratio of 1 suggests equal access by Medicaid and non-Medicaid patients to primary care pediatricians care. A ratio >1 indicates better access by Medicaid patients than non-Medicaid patients, and a ratio <1 suggests poorer access by Medicaid patients. Although the first measure reflects more directly how accessible providers are to Medicaid patients, the second measure provides a more accurate assessment of equal access by adjusting for those providers who cannot accept more patients because of full practices (Table 2).
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Medicaid Payment Levels
Two indicators of state Medicaid payments for primary care services were used in this study. The first is 1998 Medicaid to Medicare fee ratios for non-age-specific primary care services, which include services represented by the following Current Procedural Terminology codes: 99203, 99213, 99214, 99244, and 93000.7 The second is the 1998/1999 Medicaid to Medicare fee ratios for 3 frequently used pediatric services (99391, 99213, and 99214) compiled from the 1998/1999 AAP Survey of Medicaid Reimbursement8 and the 2000 AAP Utilization Survey.9 (See Table 3 for code descriptions; see Table 4 for Medicaid to Medicare ratios for non-age-specific and pediatric primary care services.)
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Pediatrician Concerns With Paperwork
Regardless of whether respondents to the 2000 AAP Participation Survey fully participate in the Medicaid program, they were asked to rate a number of reasons that they and their colleagues might decide to limit their Medicaid participation or not to participate at all. For the statement, "It takes too long to complete the necessary paperwork," respondents chose 1 of the following ratings: "very important," "somewhat important, " or "not at all important." The proportion of respondents in each state who rated the paperwork factor as "very important" was used as an index of the severity of paperwork concerns among pediatricians in the state (Table 5). For examining the possibility of a potential built-in relationship between participation and ratings of paperwork concerns, which would reflect an after-the-fact justification not to participate rather than paperwork burden as a cause in the first place, individual respondents rating of paperwork concerns as a participation barrier was cross-tabulated by whether he or she accepted all Medicaid patients and tested for statistical significance.
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Physician Capacity for Child Health Care
A child health physician workforce ratio, expressed as the number of child health care physicians (including pediatricians, family physicians, and general practitioners) per 100 000 children for each state,8 was obtained and used as a control variable (Table 5).
| RESULTS |
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65) age categories. The underrepresentation of pediatricians younger than 35 likely accounted for a lower proportion of residents (7.8% vs 16.9%) and a smaller percentage of international medical graduates (22.4% vs 33.7%) among the AAP Survey respondents.
Broad State Variation in Medicaid Participation by Private Office-Based Primary Care Pediatricians
The findings of the AAP Participation Survey documented substantial state-to-state variation in 1) the proportion of private office-based primary care pediatricians who accept all Medicaid patients who request care (" full participation") and 2) the ratio of pediatricians who accept all Medicaid versus all non-Medicaid patients ("relative participation").
Although 95.7% of respondents in North Dakota reported that they accept all Medicaid patients, only 19.6% of respondents in Tennessee reported the same, whereas the national average stands at 54.6%. Relative to non-Medicaid patients, respondents in 10 states reported that they were as or more open to Medicaid patients, whereas respondents in the remaining 40 states and the District of Columbia reported a tendency to be less open to Medicaid patients. State-specific findings for full and relative participation are displayed in Table 2.
Medicaid Payments and Pediatrician Participation
Overall, our univariate analyses indicate a positive relationship between state Medicaid payment levels and pediatrician participation. Figures 1 and 2 show the full and relative participation of primary care pediatricians who practice in private offices in relation to the quartile averages of 2 Medicaid payment indicators. In states with payments in the lowest quartile, only approximately half of their private primary care pediatricians are willing to serve all Medicaid patients who request care. In the lower paying states, for every 10 pediatricians who would accept all non-Medicaid patients, only approximately 7 would accept all Medicaid patients. In states with payments in the highest quartile, >65% of the primary care pediatricians are willing to serve all Medicaid patients who request care. By contrast, in the higher paying states, for every 10 pediatricians who would accept all non-Medicaid patients, >9 would accept all Medicaid patients.
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Pediatrician Concerns With Paperwork and Medicaid Participation
Figure 3 illustrates the association between participation and respondent ratings of paperwork concerns as a reason for limiting Medicaid participation or not participating at all. The states with average higher concerns about paperwork had lower participation rates. Meanwhile, the respondent level analysis showed that although 37.6% of full participants rated paperwork concerns as "very important," 38.8% of limited and nonparticipants did the same. The difference was nonsignificant (Pearsons
2 = 0.71, P = .40, N = 5190), suggesting that ratings of paperwork burden are attributed to variations among states rather than the individual respondents attempt to justify a participation decision.
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| DISCUSSION |
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The findings of this study support hypothesis 1. States with higher pediatric primary care service payments have a higher proportion of primary care private office-based pediatricians who accept all Medicaid children who seek care in their practice. The data indicate a strong relationship between low payment and low participation rates, as states in the lower quartiles as identified with both Medicaid payments indicators have significantly lower participation rates than those in higher paying states. Among the lowest participating states, as measured by the proportion of primary care pediatricians in private office-based settings who accept all Medicaid patients, are California (33%), New Jersey (37%), and Michigan (39%)all states in the lowest quartile by payment rate. The general findings are consistent using both full and relative measures of pediatrician participation and both Medicaid payment indicators.
The findings of the multivariate regression analysis support hypotheses 2 and 3 as well. The greater odds of receiving capitated payments for serving Medicaid patients and high paperwork concerns both contribute significantly to provider tendency to accept Medicaid patients less than they accept non-Medicaid patients after controlling for physician supply.
With regard to hypothesis 2, however, it is not clear whether the observed lower levels of participation associated with greater odds of receiving capitated payments for serving Medicaid patients are attributable to 1) generally lower physician payments in capitated systems or 2) state managed care contracting policies, which may restrict the provider pool. Although some may argue that pediatricians who want to participate more fully can attempt to join those plans where Medicaid patients are enrolled, any restriction presents additional barriers and potentially hampers provider participation. Managed care payment and contracting practice is a complex area that merits examination beyond the scope of the current study.
| CONCLUSION |
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This analysis found that pediatricians concerns about the administrative inefficiencies of the Medicaid program as measured by paperwork concerns and the prevalence of Medicaid capitated payments also affect pediatricians willingness to participate. Payment rates, paperwork burden, and managed care contracting and payments all are factors under the control of state public policy makers. State decision makers would be wise to address these 3 factors that contribute to private primary care pediatricians willingness to participate in Medicaid if the state is to achieve the equal access to health services guaranteed to each child enrolled in Medicaid.
| FOOTNOTES |
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Reprint requests to (S.B.) Childrens Hospital, 1056 East 19th Ave, B032, Denver, CO 80218. E-mail: sberman{at}aap.org
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