Former state senator Bob Clegg’s letter headlined “Provider rate increases should be targeted” (Monitor letters, Aug. 26) completely misses the mark.

Medicaid rates paid to providers in New Hampshire are some of the lowest in the nation. According to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), a nonpartisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and state governments on Medicaid issues, New Hampshire’s Medicaid inpatient fee-for-service (FFS) payment index was the lowest in the nation, behind every state and the District of Columbia.

Many other providers face a similar situation with respect to inadequate Medicaid payment rates, which not only contributes to significantly lower reimbursements, but also to our current health care workforce shortage. That is why a coalition of providers in New Hampshire worked with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to develop a solution to address these issues. When providers can’t attract and retain the workforce needed to provide services to the patients and communities who depend on them, we all suffer.

We suffer when patients are forced to wait for days, weeks, months or even longer in hospitals to be discharged to a nursing home, or to be treated at home by a home health care worker because those caregivers simply aren’t available. It’s why we don’t have an adequate number of mental health and substance use providers in New Hampshire. And it is why legislators on both sides of the aisle agreed to include a modest rate increase for all providers as part of the next state budget.

Clegg’s suggestion that rates paid to hospitals are adjusted annually, resulting in an increase in reimbursement, couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s similar to claims by others who suggest hospitals have recently received increases in Medicaid reimbursement. But, as the MACPAC analysis shows, rates paid to hospitals in New Hampshire lag far behind that of not only other states in New England but the rest of the country as well.

The bipartisan approach that was adopted in the state budget to provide for a modest increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates is a reasonable and responsible step forward to address needs across the entire system of care.

(Steve Ahnen is president of the New Hampshire Hospital Association.)