A physician told Alabama's Medicaid Agency that the state must utilize newly available federal funding to address child gun violence cases, the Alabama Reflector reported Nov. 22.
Alabama Medicaid pays healthcare costs for approximately 80% of child gun violence cases. New federal guidance allows states to pay providers through Medicaid for parental and caregiver counseling on firearm safety and injury prevention.
"We learned that there would be money on the table for state Medicaid to reimburse pediatricians for firearm safety counseling, which is something we're already doing in our primary care clinic," said Morissa Ladinsky, MD, a physician at the University of Alabama Birmingham representing primary care providers during a meeting of the agency's medical care advisory committee.
According to Alabama Medicaid, nearly 57% of all children were covered by the organization in 2022, and firearms were the leading cause of death in children ages 1-17 that same year, according to the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Dr. Ladinsky said that care for child gun violence victims amounts to several hundreds of thousands of dollars for each case.
Commissioner Stephanie Azar said that CMS was supposed to send the agency a letter, but has not received any communication or notification regarding the available funds.