For Medicaid patients, access to primary-care may not be as advertised

Using "mystery shoppers" looking for access to health care, Public Health – Seattle & King County has found troubling indications that access to primary-care providers may not be as advertised. About half the time, primary-care providers listed as accepting new patients on Medicaid managed-care organization websites in fact told the "shoppers" they were not accepting new Medicaid patients. The initial survey was conducted over a 10-day period in early December. A random sample of adult primary-care providers was selected for each of the four regions of King County, and callers used the online provider directories of the five Medicaid Managed Care Organizations that serve King County.