According to a newly released report, community colleges miss out on at least $115 million in available Medicaid funding each year. Only 3% of community colleges bill Medicaid for services, despite 84% of community colleges likely being eligible for Medicaid reimbursement.
The report, “Increasing Student Support and Success by Boosting Medicaid Engagement,” draws on data collected from a review of over 1,000 community colleges.
“There is a missed opportunity right now where community colleges could be getting in a significant source of recurring funds that they are not currently claiming,” said Ryan Stewart, report co-lead and Founder and CEO of Mile 2 Consulting, LLC. “I want to raise awareness of that and try to build a culture where more community colleges take advantage.”
There are growing mental health concerns among college students and an increase in demand for all student health services among community college students. Unfortunately, the demand for student health services often exceeds a community college’s resources.
Eligible health services include but are not limited to, psychological services, counseling, nursing services, physical therapy, Medicaid outreach and case management. According to Stewart, the call for community colleges to consider Medicaid reimbursements is more critical now than ever.
“We've seen this growing need for particularly mental health resources at at the college level, and we've also seen that many colleges relied on COVID relief funding,” said Stewart. “Those funds are now expired, so you have a lot of schools right now who are looking for ways to sustainably replace those funds, and Medicaid could be a really important source.”
Stewart previously served as the Secretary of Education for New Mexico and has inspired his thinking about how K-12 schools accessed student resources through Medicaid.
