H.R. 3821 would require state Medicaid agencies to publish, on public websites, a directory of certain medical care providers who provided care to Medicaid enrollees in the prior 12 months. The directory would be limited to providers who had been reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis or had received a primary care case management fee. In addition to the names of the providers, the directories would include the following information: the medical speciality of the provider, the address of the provider, and the contact information of the provider.
For providers who had received a primary care case management fee, the directory would also need to include whether the provider is accepting new Medicaid patients and the provider’s cultural and linguistic capabilities, including languages spoken. States maintaining such directories would have to update them at least annually.
H.R. 3821 would affect federal spending by requiring states to spend administrative funds on developing and maintaining these directories. The federal government reimburses 50 percent of states’ spending for general administrative activities. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3821 would increase direct spending by $13 million over the 2016-2026 period. Because the legislation would affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting the legislation would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in one or more of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 3821 contains no intergovernmental or private sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
