Fordland sees 60% jump in Medicaid Evaluation and Management payments in 2024

In 2024, Fordland Medicaid providers billed $255,650 for Evaluation and Management services, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amount reflects a 60% rise compared with 2023, when $159,780 was billed for the same services.

Medicaid, the public health insurance program operated by the states and funded in partnership by federal and state governments, provides coverage for low-income individuals, seniors, children, and people with disabilities and is one of the largest components of the U.S. health care system.

Since Medicaid payments are taxpayer funded, fluctuations in local billing illustrate how communities direct public health resources.

The Evaluation and Management category comprises a set of Medicaid-billed services categorized by care type, using standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this report, each billing code was assigned to a single service category based on specific code prefixes and numerical ranges, which allowed for consistent comparisons and prevented double counting, maintaining accurate rankings over time.

While Medicaid spending rose across multiple areas, Evaluation and Management led all service categories in Fordland by total Medicaid payments in 2024.

Statewide in Missouri, Evaluation and Management was the second-largest category by Medicaid payment totals in 2024.

From five years prior to 2024, Fordland’s Medicaid payments in the Evaluation and Management category grew by $221,262, or 643.4%. Periods of faster growth occurred, especially with notable annual increases in 2020 and 2022.

Though spending on Evaluation and Management services was distributed citywide, the bulk of payments was concentrated within a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 65652 accounted for the full $255,650 in Medicaid Evaluation and Management payments. This ZIP code represented 100% of the city’s payments for this service category that year.

Within Evaluation and Management services, Medicaid reimbursement was heavily focused on a select few billing codes.

To compare, Fordland’s Medicaid payments for Evaluation and Management services were up 60% between 2024 and 2023, while all Medicaid claim categories across the city experienced a 54.6% increase during the same timeframe.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending totaled about $871.7 billion for fiscal year 2023, making up approximately 18% of all national health expenditures—a steep rise from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase amounts to roughly 40% growth over several years, primarily driven by expanded enrollment and elevated utilization during and following the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration introduced major proposals to decrease federal Medicaid funding and revamp the program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is forecast to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over 10 years, and institutes requirements like work mandates and increased cost-sharing that may restrict benefits and funding for some enrollees. These provisions are set to shift more financial responsibility to states and limit future federal Medicaid growth, even as the program continues to support tens of millions across the country.

Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.

Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.