The Des Moines Register

By: Jason Clayworth

There is not sufficient data to see if truly more medical providers are taking part of Medicaid program, and are being affected by it, as Governor Terry Branstad had claimed. According to Joan Alker, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, mentioned that even though there was enough data available, it would still be a disaster to conclude anything from it.

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A June report by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., found a sample of Florida pediatricians generally believed the system of care has worsened under private management.

Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, the same group that issued the June report critical of Florida’s program, also reviewed Iowa’s database of 169,000 contracts at the Register’s request. They concluded the data provided no way to verify Iowa’s claims.

Joan Alker, the center’s executive director, said other factors — such as how long it takes to get an appointment, the time a doctor spends with a patient or whether appropriate services are offered — are often better indicators of how the program is working.

“The data is a big mess and it is hard to draw any conclusions from it,” Alker said. “But even if there are more contracts, that wouldn’t really answer the question as to whether Medicaid patients have more access now than they did before managed care came in.”

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