NY’s largest Medicaid provider to pull out of LI

New York's largest Medicaid provider has announced it will stop accepting new patients from Long Island and Westchester County. "Effective immediately, we will not be enrolling any additional members

News 12 Staff

Nov 26, 2016, 8:45 PM

Updated 2,873 days ago

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New York's largest Medicaid provider has announced it will stop accepting new patients from Long Island and Westchester County.
"Effective immediately, we will not be enrolling any additional members into GuildNet programs in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, and will seek your assistance in vacating these counties while we consider our options for the remainder of GuildNet," the provider, GuildNet, wrote to the state Department of Health last week.
"The point that they are making is that they are not getting a sufficient reimbursement," says state Sen. Kemp Hannon, of Garden City, who chairs the Senate's Health Committee.
He says similar companies have shared the same complaints and concerns in part because they're being compelled by state law to cover an increasing number of services.
"This affects directly the people who are receiving home care. What will happen is, if we don't have sufficient home care, you look to either voluntary care from families... or institutional care like a nursing home," Hannon says.
Carol Waldman, the executive director of the Glen Cove Senior Center, says the loss of GuildNet may especially hurt because Long Island has a growing senior population.
"For years, GuildNet has been an extremely reliable resource for seniors struggling with their health care needs," she says.
GuildNet tells News 12 Long Island that it is working with the state to see if if there is a way to ensure that it will receive adequate reimbursement for the services it is required to cover.