Physicians have been accepting a smaller percentage of new Medicaid patients than patients on 
Medicare or with private insurance, according to a study by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control.
More than 95% of office-based physicians were accepting new patients in 2013, the latest for which data are available. While nearly 85% accepted patients using private insurance, and almost 84% accepted those in Medicare, less than 69% were accepting Medicaid recipients.
The study noted that the Affordable Care Act calls for Medicaid payment rates for many primary care services to equal those paid by Medicare, but most states have not fully implemented the new payment rates.
The NCHS looked at the acceptance of new patients by doctors in cities and smaller communities. There was almost no difference for patients with private insurance. About 83% of doctors in metropolitan areas accepted Medicare patients, compared to over 91% in non-metro areas. For Medicaid patients, the acceptance rate was 67% in cities, versus almost 86% in smaller communities.
The five states with the lowest percentage of physicians who accepted Medicaid patients were California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York.
The survey data was drawn from electronic records of 4,220 physicians nationwide between February and June of 2013.
