Researchers at Kent State University Report New Data on Public Health (Medicaid Coverage for Podiatric Care: a National Survey): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2022 APR 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Health and Medicine - Public Health. According to news reporting originating from Kent, Ohio, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Medicaid provides health insurance for low-income people meeting specific eligibility requirements. It is funded and administered by both the federal and state governments; this decentralization leads to vastly different programs across the country.”

Financial support for this research came from Podiatry Foundation.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Kent State University, “The objective of this legal surveillance project was to describe state-by-state differences in podiatric care coverage for nonelderly adults across Medicaid programs. We used policy surveillance, a form of advanced legal mapping. It is the systematic collection and analysis of written policies across jurisdictions. Policy surveillance captures the important features of law through a rigorous scientific process to turn these policies into structured, quantitative legal data that are suitable for further evaluation or modeling. Data for the 51 jurisdictions were current as of September 1, 2020. The vast majority of jurisdictions (82%) covered podiatric services for all classes of Medicaid beneficiaries, but the rules, restrictions, and limitations around coverage differed. Twenty-five jurisdictions had no limits on the number of podiatric visits during a specified period; 26 jurisdictions indicated a cap. Ten jurisdictions had no explicit limitations on coverage of routine foot care, whereas 33 jurisdictions covered routine foot care only when medically necessary or with a triggering condition. Eight jurisdictions did not cover routine foot care at all, and 28 jurisdictions required prior authorizations. Podiatric care coverage, which is often preventive, varies greatly by state. This variability in coverage, which has not been previously tracked at the level of detail provided in our study, has implications for cost and health outcomes. The value of podiatric care is especially apparent in Medicaid populations.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The compilation of these data can serve as a valuable resource for clinicians, researchers, and policy makers.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Medicaid Coverage for Podiatric Care: a National Survey. Public Health Reports, 2022. Public Health Reports can be contacted at: Sage Publications Inc, 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Thomas W. Brewer, Kent State University, College of Public Health, 209 Moulton Hall, Kent, OH 44242, United States. Additional authors for this research include Godslove K. Bonnah, James S. Cairns, Bethany G. Lanese and Joshua Waimberg.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549221076552. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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