Whitfield Votes to Strengthen Medicaid Program

NEWS RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (KY-01) voted today in favor of H.R. 3716, the Ensuring Terminated Providers are Removed from Medicaid and CHIP Act. This bill makes certain that providers who are terminated from Medicare or a state Medicaid program in one state will be unable to participate in all other state Medicaid programs. The bill also increases access to care by creating an electronic physician directory in each state, which will help patients find a doctor who accepts Medicaid patients. Whitfield released the following statement upon passage:

“Under current law, each state must remove a provider from its Medicaid program if that provider was found to have been terminated for reasons of fraud, integrity, or quality issues from another state’s Medicaid program. However, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that 12 percent of providers terminated for cause from a state Medicaid program during 2011 were participating in another state’s Medicaid programs as of January 1, 2012. This legislation addresses the concerns

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