Medicaid funding for KU faculty increased / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, October 21, 2008

J-W Staff Reports

October 21, 2008

The state will receive $8.8 million in additional Medicaid funding this year from the federal government to pay for care provided by Kansas University faculty physicians and associated outpatient clinics in Kansas City and Wichita, officials announced Monday.

"Ultimately, this additional revenue will allow us to better serve Kansas patients who might otherwise go without care," said Barbara Atkinson, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center.

The Kansas Health Policy Authority requested a change in the state Medicaid plan to recognize that physicians who teach at the KU School of Medicine serve a large number of Medicaid patients, with reimbursement rates below their actual costs, and that due to their teaching and research responsibilities their losses cannot be offset by higher paying patients.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, the federal agency that oversees federal Medicaid spending, recently approved the change.

"The new rate structure is a result of the hospital, university, and the state working together to benefit physicians and their patients," said Bob Page, president and chief executive officer of the KU Hospital.

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21 October 2008
at 4:34 a.m.

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KEITHMILES05 (Anonymous) says…

To think there is no socialism in this country!Another great example of it at its best.
21 October 2008
at 7:04 a.m.

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tanzer (Anonymous) says…

I have many clients that would benefit from services provided at KU medical center, but can't afford to get there. If they can't get there and if services aren't covered, they won't go. KU med center has some specialized services that aren't available anywhere else in the state. Medicaid benefits only cover in state services without special preauthorization - which is very difficult to get. That leaves individuals with the choice paying out of pocket for trips to KU or our of state to Colorado, Oklahoma or Missouri where equivalent specialized services can be obtained - which means they don't' go. To me, socialized medical care of this nature is the only humane solution.