Los Angeles County is cutting reimbursements to on-call specialists treating poor, uninsured patients at private hospitals in the county, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
The county board of supervisors voted to reduce the payment rate on July 1 to 18 percent of estimated fees for patients' first three days, down from the current 27 percent, which in turn was a reduction from 29 percent before Jan. 2009.
About 4,700 on-call and emergency physicians will be affected by the change, which brings rates to 43 percent of Medicaid.
Read the Los Angeles Times' report on on-call coverage.