Published online December 1, 2005
PEDIATRICS Vol. 116 No. 6 December 2005, pp. 1599 (doi:10.1542/peds.2005-2206)

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Medicaid Policy Statement: In Reply

John R. Meurer, MD, MBA
Department of Pediatrics,
Medical College of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee, WI 53226

Thomas K. McInerny, MD
Department of Pediatrics,
University of Rochester Medical Center,
Rochester, NY 14642

In Reply.—

We appreciate the comments of Abston et al in response to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Medicaid policy statement.¹ As lead authors of the statement, we offer the following reply.

We agree that all pediatricians are responsible to provide high-quality, equitable care. The AAP is opposed to discrimination in the care of any patient.² Pediatricians should provide medical care for underserved children including those enrolled in Medicaid as well as the uninsured, immigrant, homeless, and migrant.³ Pediatricians also should address the needs of their patients and all children in the context of the community.⁴ Finally, we also should continue to transform our private and public pediatric health care systems to emphasize value.⁵

Pediatricians have made a strong commitment to children enrolled in Medicaid. Nationally, a majority of pediatricians accept all Medicaid patients.⁶ On average, 30% of a pediatrician's patients are covered by Medicaid.⁷ In general, pediatricians serve more Medicaid patients than do other primary care physicians.⁸

All physicians and society are also responsible for ensuring that all children are treated equitably. In particular, policy makers should address low payment and paperwork concerns to ensure sufficient primary care physician capacity to appropriately serve children who are enrolled in Medicaid.⁶

The AAP is committed to improving child health and reducing the gap in health disparities among populations of children in the United States and the world, in particular among children living in poverty and other groups of marginalized children. In partnership with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the AAP has established the Equity Project to ensure that all pediatricians and providers of child health services understand the issues and experience of marginalized children and health implications of inequity and have the capacity for resolving health disparities among children; this project also seeks to advance the understanding of the genesis of health disparities and raise the national profile of the health implications of inequity through research and the development of relevant public policy.⁹

REFERENCES

1. American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Child Health Financing. Medicaid policy statement. Pediatrics. 2005;116 :274 –280[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Pediatric Workforce. Nondiscrimination in pediatric health care. Pediatrics. 2001;108 :1215[Abstract/Free Full Text]
3. DuPlessis HM, Cora-Bramble D; American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Community Health Services. Providing care for immigrant, homeless, and migrant children. Pediatrics. 2005;115 :1095 –1100[Abstract/Free Full Text]
4. Rushton FE Jr; American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Community Health Services. The pediatrician's role in community pediatrics. Pediatrics. 2005;115 :1092 –1094[Abstract/Free Full Text]
5. Berman S. Challenge of transforming our private and public health care systems to emphasize value. Pediatrics. 2005;115 :1068 –1070[Free Full Text]
6. Berman S, Dolins J, Tang S, Yudkowsky B. Factors that influence the willingness of private primary care pediatricians to accept more Medicaid patients. Pediatrics. 2002;110 :239 –248[Abstract/Free Full Text]
7. Yudkowsky BK, Tang SF, Siston AM. Pediatrician Participation in Medicaid/SCHIP: Survey of Fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics 2000. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2000. Available at: www.aap.org/statelegislation/med-schip/Introduction.PDF. Accessed September 2, 2005
8. Grumbach K, Hart LG, Coffman J, Palazzo L. Who is caring for the underserved? A comparison of primary care physicians and non-physician clinicians in California and Washington. Ann Fam Med. 2003;1 :97 –104[Abstract/Free Full Text]
9. American Academy of Pediatrics. The equity project. Available at: www.aap.org/commpeds/international/equity.html. Accessed September 2, 2005

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PEDIATRICS (ISSN 1098-4275). ©2005 by the American Academy of Pediatrics

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Related articles in Pediatrics:

Medicaid Policy Statement

Pippa Abston, Steffane Battle, and Maria Salazar
Pediatrics 2005 116: 1598-1599. [Extract] [Full Text]  

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services E-mail this article to a friend Related articles in Pediatrics Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Meurer, J. R. Articles by McInerny, T. K. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Meurer, J. R. Articles by McInerny, T. K. Related Collections Office Practice Social Bookmarking                         What's this?