I am writing about how the Medicaid changes have affected my business. I have a small therapy business with 2 offices that I share with another small provider. We have been the only providers in Cartersville, Georgia for the past 10 years. This is a small rural community north of Atlanta which has a large number of people in the community on Medicaid. Since the changes in Medicaid we have lost so much business. All our children over three on HMOs have been denied services. The Doctors offices in Cartersville are struggling to stay open because of the high numbers of children on Medicaid, and the amount of paperwork. We have spent countless hours trying to pre-cert all our children on Medicaid. My secretary has quit under the pressure of all the paperwork and the difficulty getting some of the pre-certs because of Medicaid incompetence. My books are a mess because of the inconsistency in payments from the HMO's. We cannot treat as many kids because of the time we need to do the paperwork. I spend hours on the phone trying to help families understand these changes, and trying to get Medicaid or services for their children. Many of the children in schools only receive a consultation from a therapist which is once a month and they just give teachers some ideas, very few children in the schools get individual therapies. I struggle each month trying to make payroll.

Babies Can't Wait is struggling under these new rules, and children under three are not getting the services they need. This is going to put a huge burden on the system, and will probably cost more money in the long run in terms of the special needs population. I thank you for this opportunity to talk about these issues. 

 

Cathy S. OTR/L MA