Maryland Tries To Convince Doctors To Accept Medicaid

The ranks of welfare patients are expected to balloon, but willing providers are in short supply

Health care leaders are looking for ways to entice more doctors to treat patients covered by Medicaid in time to treat the thousands of additional Maryland residents expected to enroll in the program in 2014.

Up to 100,000 additional residents will newly qualify for the insurance program that year under federal health reform. If there are too few doctors to treat those patients, these patients may turn to emergency rooms for basic care — an expensive alternative — or go without treatment.