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Increased Medicaid Rates to Take Effect This Month for Ohio Providers

Client Alert

As required by House Bill 33, Ohio’s 2024-2025 operating budget bill, reimbursement rates paid by the Ohio Department of Medicaid will increase for a wide range of providers starting on January 1, 2024. The rate increases total roughly $3.4 billion per year and apply to the following types of providers:

  • Non-institutional providers:
    • Ambulatory surgical centers / dialysis
    • Testing / lab / X-ray / durable medical equipment
    • Physicians / advanced practice registered nurses / physician assistants / clinics / skilled therapy
    • Vision and eye care
  • Community behavioral health providers
  • State plan private duty nursing / home health providers
  • Home and Community Based Services waiver providers:
    • PASSPORT waiver providers
    • Assisted living waiver providers
    • Ohio home care waiver providers
    • MyCare Ohio waiver providers
    • Individual Options waiver
    • Level 1 waiver providers
    • Self-Empowered Life Funding (SELF) waiver providers
  • Department of Developmental Disabilities providers

Beginning on January 1, 2024, the majority of the codes in the Ohio Medicaid fee schedule for non-institutional providers increased by 5% or more. Specifically, there was approximately a 5% increase for physicians, APRNs, PAs, clinics, skilled therapy providers, ambulatory surgical centers, laboratories, dialysis providers, X-ray providers, and DME providers. Additionally, there was a 5.7% dispensing fee rate increase for pharmacies, a 79% rate increase for transportation providers, and a 93% rate increase for dental providers. There was no rate increase for FQHCs. However, there was a 10% baseline rate increase for community behavioral health rates.

The increased reimbursement rates authorized by HB 33 apply to dates of service starting January 1, 2024, and beyond. Note that ODM will reimburse all services based on the date the service was rendered, not the date the provider bills for the service. ODM also reminded providers that, even after the rates are increased due to HB 33, providers must continue to charge their reasonable and customary rates regardless of anticipated reimbursement from the department. ODM’s fee schedules and rates are codified in the Ohio Administrative Code and accessible for providers on ODM’s website.

If you have questions about ODM’s reimbursement rate increases, please contact your local BMD Healthcare Attorneys Daphne Kackloudis at dlkackloudis@bmdllc.com or Ashley Watson at abwatson@bmdllc.com.


Corporate Transparency Act: Business Owners Must Act Now

The Corporate Transparency Act requires all reporting companies to file their Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report by year-end to avoid penalties. Companies formed before January 1, 2024, have less than six months to comply. Learn more in a client alert by BMD Member Blake Gerney.

New Medicare Billing Rules: What MFTs, MHCs, and IOP Providers Need to Know

Starting January 1, 2024, Medicare began covering services provided to Medicare beneficiaries by marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) services. With this change, Medicare has become the primary payer for these services.

Chevron Doctrine No More: What the Supreme Court’s Ruling Means for Agency Authority

On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court invalidated the Chevron doctrine, nearly 40 years after it first took effect.

Ohio Board of Pharmacy Update: Key Regulatory Changes and Proposals You Need to Know

The Ohio Board of Pharmacy (BOP) has rescinded certain OAC rules (OAC 4729:5-18-01 through 4729:5-18-06), removing regulations on office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) clinics. The rescissions took effect on June 3, 2024. The BOP also published a new rule, OAC 4729:8-5-01, which sets explicit reporting guidelines for licensed dispensaries and became effective on June 7, 2024.

LGBTQIA+ Patients and Discrimination in Healthcare

In early April, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a study outlining the challenges that LGBT adults face in the United States related to healthcare. According to the study, LGBT patients are “twice as likely as non-LGBT adults to report negative experiences while receiving health care in the last three years, including being treated unfairly or with disrespect (33% v. 15%) or having at least one of several other negative experiences with a provider (61% v. 31%), including a provider assuming something about them without asking, suggesting they were personally to blame for a health problem, ignoring a direct request or question, or refusing to prescribe needed pain medication.”