CA physicians decry 10% Medicaid pay cut

The California Medical Association (CMA) will go to court again to block the latest cut to already stingy Medicaid reimbursement rates in that state, a CMA leader said today. The association contends that the 10% reduction in provider reimbursement will drive more physicians out of the program and make it harder for the poor to receive medical care, violating federal requirements that govern the Medicaid program. "When regulators don't follow their own rules, legal action is our only recourse," CMA Vice Speaker Ted Mazer, MD, toldMedscape Medical News. "They've just destroyed the program." The CMA and other California healthcare organizations, along with Medicaid beneficiaries, obtained a court injunction to stop a previous 10% pay cut set for fiscal 2008.