Tracking Changes in Primary Care Clinicians’ Medicaid Participation Using Novel Methods

Mandar Bodas (), Qian Luo and Anushree Vichare
Additional contact information
Mandar Bodas: Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Qian Luo: Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Anushree Vichare: Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: Medicaid enrollees often face barriers to care due to inconsistent clinician participation. This study investigates how primary care clinicians’ engagement with Medicaid evolved from 2016 to 2019, focusing on those already serving Medicaid patients at baseline. Using longitudinal data from the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System Analytic Files (TAFs), we analyzed changes in the number of unique Medicaid enrollees served annually by 220,665 clinicians across 40 states. We defined major increases or decreases as changes exceeding 90% of baseline enrollee volume and examined associations with clinician, practice, and state-level characteristics. The results show that while about 60% of clinicians maintained stable enrollee volumes, nearly 20% experienced substantial increases or decreases. Higher baseline enrollee volume and affiliation with community health centers were associated with greater stability, while rural practice settings were linked to higher odds of major decreases. These findings underscore the dynamic nature of Medicaid participation and highlight the need for policies that support consistent clinician engagement. As Medicaid programs face potential funding cuts and eligibility changes, tracking participation trends and reinforcing stable provider networks will be critical to safeguarding access to care.

Keywords: health workforce; Medicaid; underserved communities; access to care; health policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/9/1339/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/9/1339/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:9:p:1339-:d:1734153

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().