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Friday, April 30, 2004The Denver Post reported Thursday that a report by experts at Children's Hospital in Denver due out this summer shows that an influx of nearly 60,000 poor children into the Medicaid program since 2001 has overwhelmed a thinly stretched network of doctors. .....Pediatricians are subsidizing the cost of caring for large numbers of children, but their willingness to continue to do so is decreasing, the study says. The study's authors say the core of the problem is that the state chronically underpays doctors who treat poor children. The average office visit costs a pediatrician $60, but Medicaid pays only $40, said Dr. Stephen Berman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Medical School and author of the hospital study. .... In Colorado Springs, only one of the city's 13 pediatric offices accepts Medicaid children, said Dr. Bruce MacHaffie, president of the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Since 2002, 60 pediatricians have been added to the Medicaid network, but that's not enough to meet the growing demand, doctors said. ....The study also found that the number of pediatricians willing to accept new Medicaid patients dropped to 23.9 percent last year from 41 percent in 2000. That's based on a statewide survey of American Academy of Pediatrics members." No money, no mission. posted by Sydney on 4/30/2004 08:40:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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