SECTION 1. Legislative findings. The general assembly finds and declares:
(1) Rhode Island pediatricians are facing a major workforce crisis which is causing decreased healthcare access for children. Without significant intervention, the situation is expected to worsen and negatively impact not only the health or our children, but the long-term health of the adults in our state.
(2) According to a 2024 survey of Rhode Island pediatricians, less than fifty percent (50%) of pediatric primary care offices were accepting new or transfer patients other than newborns or siblings of current patients. Families that move to Rhode Island to work, or those whose pediatric providers retire, cannot find a doctor to care for their child.
(3) The same survey showed that forty-two (42) of one hundred fifty-six (156), twenty-six and nine-tenths percent (26.9%) of respondents, stated that they plan to retire within the next six
(6) years. This correlates to a potential loss of seventy-one (71) providers when applied to the two hundred sixty-two (262) pediatricians who are currently practicing primary care in Rhode Island, and a projected net loss of forty (40) to forty-five (45) providers by 2030. Current providers do not have the capacity to increase panel size to accommodate more patients as most are working with full patient loads.
(4) Rhode Island also suffers from shortages in pediatric subspecialists and child psychiatrists, causing unnecessary delays in care for children. The American Academy of Pediatrics has predicted that despite increasing medical complexity of American children, the supply of specialists will continue to decline without significant investments in the workforce. In Rhode Island, current Medicaid payment rates for pediatric specialists is lower than that for general pediatricians, as they were not included in the last rate increase in the governor’s budget.
(5) On average, Medicaid payment rates in Rhode Island are approximately twenty-five percent (25%) lower than those in Massachusetts and Connecticut, which causes significant difficulty in recruiting new pediatric providers to our state.
(6) Medicaid rates have a significant impact on the availability of pediatric health care to children statewide, regardless of income. Nationally and in Rhode Island, pediatric health care providers are more dependent on Medicaid than adult health care providers to keep their practices open and operating because Medicaid covers a large portion of children’s health care. In Rhode Island in 2022, fifty-eight percent (58%) of children under age seven (7), and fifty-four percent (54%) of children ages zero to eighteen (18) were covered by Medicaid insurance. Only eight percent (8%) of Rhode Islanders over age nineteen (19) were covered by Medicaid. In 2019, children represented about twenty-five percent (25%) of the U.S. population, yet received less than ten percent (10%) of total health care spending.
(7) Spending on health care during childhood has been documented to improve health into adulthood, thereby reducing future costs. Investments in children’s health care can produce improved outcomes in subsequent generations.
SECTION 2. Chapter 42-12.3 of the General Laws entitled "Health Care for Children and Pregnant Women" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 42-12.3-17. Access to pediatric health care. The executive office of health and human services shall pursue a Medicaid state plan amendment and allocate sufficient state general revenue to increase Medicaid payment rates to equal one hundred thirty percent (130%) of Medicare rates for all payment codes for outpatient clinical services rendered to patients under nineteen (19) years old on or before October 1, 2026 to ensure rates allow pediatric providers to provide adequate services for their current patient panels. Increased rates will allow practices to recruit and retain pediatric providers to include, but not be limited to, pediatricians, pediatric specialists, child psychiatrists, family medicine physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician’s assistants to improve the current workforce shortage, and offset the projected shortfall in replacing physicians who plan to retire.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
