TennCare Doctors See Boost in Pay

WKMS | By The Associated Press,

Whitney Jones

Published January 2, 2013 at 8:15 AM CST

Doctors who treat TennCare patients will get a New Year's pay raise. Practitioners in family medicine, general internal medicine, pediatrics or a related subspecialty are now going to be reimbursed at Medicare rates, more than 25 percent above what they were being paid. TennCare officials say the boost will give qualifying Tennessee doctors an extra $55 million over the next two years. Doctors who treat TennCare patients are also going to see an expansion in their roles since about 300,000 people are expected to enroll in the program after the requirement for everyone to have health insurance kicks in. State Representative JoAnne Favors sits on the House Health and Human Resources Committee and says she hopes the extra money will encourage more doctors, especially specialists, to accept TennCare patients.

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Whitney Jones

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.

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