Pediatrician Exodus from CHIP Stalls Texas County’s Efforts to Enroll More Children in Program

El Paso County, which has the highest percentage of children in Texas' CHIP program, "appear[s] stalled" in its efforts to enroll additional children because many pediatricians no longer are treating CHIP beneficiaries over "reimbursement concerns," the Dallas Morning News reports. So far, the county has enrolled 76.3% of eligible children in CHIP, and local officials hope to enroll an additional 11,000. However, 20 of the county's 26 pediatricians have stopped treating CHIP beneficiaries because they say the program's funding formula "economically limits their participation," according to Dr. Carlos Gutierrez of Southwest Pediatric Consultants. Gutierrez said, "I'm having to borrow money every month to meet payroll, my overhead, just to survive. ... Even though I should have dropped all of the CHIP patients, I didn't. I didn't want anyone to say it's because I'm a greedy doctor." Recently some pediatricians who left the CHIP program have begun accepting program beneficiaries again after the state Legislature approved adding $25 million to the program. But Gutierrez said, "I don't know if they (lawmakers) realized that the program was going to be such a success. They just didn't put enough thought into how to fund the program. They've taken steps to help us, but I think it's just a temporary fix" (Lopez, Dallas Morning News, 7/9).