Federal Restriction Lifted on Funds to Abortion Providers; Billing Resumes

Planned Parenthood and two smaller regional abortion providers resumed billing Medicaid for services other than abortion on Sunday after the payments were halted for most of a year. The funding stoppage was required by a federal tax and policy law enacted last year.

Officials have linked the cutoff to multiple clinic closures and fewer patients screened for breast cancer or tested for sexually transmitted infections.

Parenthood affiliates closed nearly 30 of roughly 600 clinics over the past year and reported dispensing about 25 percent fewer packs of birth control pills and conducting about 20 percent fewer breast cancer exams than the prior year. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin halted abortions for about a month before dropping its status as an essential community provider to resume seeking reimbursement.

The Arizona affiliate paused many services for Medicaid patients.

Planning closed three primary care clinics that served about 1,000 patients. A senior vice president of program services said Monday that former patients waited an average of four to six months to find new providers. Health Imperatives in Massachusetts continued services without interruption after the state government covered the federal payments that stopped.

The Arizona affiliate has announced expanded hours and more telehealth options tied to the restored billing. Maine Family Planning does not plan to reopen its primary care practices. A vice president of communications for the Florida affiliate said a closed clinic in Lakeland is not expected to reopen, citing concern that Congress or the Trump administration could cut Medicaid reimbursements again.