Just over half of ob.gyns. accept Medicaid

Medicaid acceptance was nearly 55% among ob.gyns. in the 2017 edition of an ongoing survey conducted in 15 large cities by physician recruitment firm Merritt Hawkins.

It was up from almost 46% in the previous survey, conducted in 2014, but lower than the average of 68% for ob.gyns. in 15 midsized cities that were included for the first time in 2017, the company reported.

There were two large cities with Medicaid acceptance rates of 100% – Boston and Minneapolis (up from 40% in 2014) – along with four midsized cities – Billings, Mt.; Fargo, N.D.; Fort Smith, Ark.; and Yakima, Wash. The lowest rate among the large cities was in Dallas (15%), with the midsized basement occupied by Lafayette, La., at 10%, Merritt Hawkins said.

Investigators called 286 randomly selected ob.gyns. in the large cities and 100 ob.gyns. in the midsized cities in January and February. It was the fourth such survey the company has conducted since 2004.

The survey also included four other specialties – cardiology, dermatology, family medicine, and orthopedic surgery. The Medicaid acceptance rate for all 1,414 physicians in all five specialties in the 15 large cities was 53%, and the average rate for all specialties in the midsized cities was 60% for the 494 offices surveyed, the company said.

Cardiology had the highest rates by specialty and dermatology the lowest in both the large and midsized cities. For all five specialties combined, Fargo (100%) and Minneapolis (97%) had the highest acceptance rates, and Dallas (17%) and Lafayette (11%) had the lowest, the report showed.