Community Health Centers Reveal Specific Ramifications of The Medicaid Citizenship and Identification Documentation Re...( Continued Assessment of Impact Under...),Health

Continued Assessment of Impact Underway; Updated Results to Be Released in

Fall 2007 as Congress Considers Legislation to Ease Requirements

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing assessment of the impact of Medicaid documentation requirements enacted by Congress in 2006, The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (GW SPHHS) compiled profiles documenting the experiences of community health centers across the country. The details that emerged as part of the research, which is supported by the RCHN Community Health Foundation, illustrate the major and measurable impact the rules are having on access to care and health centers' operations. Patients, particularly children and citizens, are facing barriers to continued service, and centers are experiencing the financial fallout. Snapshots of the case studies are available at: http://www.rchnfoundation.org/snapshots.

The preliminary findings of the study, released in May 2007, revealed the requirements are disrupting coverage for hundreds of thousands of health center patients, while delaying enrollment in Medicaid for potentially hundreds of thousands more. GW SPHHS is now in the process of repeating the survey in order to provide updated results in fall 2007, when House and Senate Conferees are expected to meet to resolve differences in legislation that could ease these requirements.

"Our initial research coupled with these case studies make it clear that the Medicaid documentation requirements are presenting significant enrollment barriers and jeopardizing healthcare access for vulnerable populations," said study author Peter Shin, PhD, MPH, associate research professor and research director for the Geiger Gibson Program/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative.

"The accounts of the community health center leaders underscore the devastat
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