Evaluation and Management Medicaid payments in Kensett rise to $372 in 2024

In 2024, Medicaid providers in Kensett billed $372 for services placed under the Evaluation and Management category, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This amount reflects a 190.6% increase from the $128 in similar claims recorded for 2023.

Medicaid serves as a public health insurance program managed by states and funded through joint federal and state resources. The program is open to low-income people, including families, elderly individuals, children, and those with disabilities, and remains among the largest elements of the U.S. health care landscape.

Taxpayers support Medicaid payment funding, so fluctuations in local billing levels illustrate how community health care funds are distributed.

The “Evaluation and Management” grouping encompasses Medicaid-billed services categorized by the type of care using standard HCPCS and CPT code systems. This report grouped each billing code under a single service category, applying consistent code prefixes and ranges. These groupings allow for detailed tracking and ranking over time without duplication.

Increased Medicaid spending was reported across other service categories as well, with Evaluation and Management ranking fourth by total Medicaid expenditure in Kensett for 2024.

Statewide, Evaluation and Management was the fifth-highest service category by Medicaid spending in Arkansas in 2024.

Between the five years preceding 2024, Kensett saw an increase of $285, or 329.1%, in Medicaid payments for Evaluation and Management. Growth in spending speeded up during certain years, particularly with significant rises in 2023 and 2022.

Though Evaluation and Management payments covered care citywide, much of the spending in 2024 fell within a few ZIP codes. ZIP code 72082 accounted for $372, representing 100.1% of Kensett’s payments associated with the Evaluation and Management category.

The Evaluation and Management category also showed concentrated Medicaid billing among relatively few individual codes.

To compare, the 190.6% increase in Kensett’s Evaluation and Management Medicaid payments between 2024 and 2023 exceeded the 20.2% change seen across all Medicaid claim categories locally during this period.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data report that total federal and state Medicaid expenditures reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, accounting for close to 18% of overall national health costs, a significant rise from the $613.5 billion in 2019 before COVID-19 began to spread.

This jump marks an increase of about 40% within a few years, with expanding enrollment and increased service demand during and after the pandemic fueling much of the growth.

Recent changes in federal budgeting, including under the Trump administration, brought significant efforts to reduce funding and rework the Medicaid program. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid funds in the next decade. It also adopts policy changes such as work requirements and higher cost-sharing by some users—measures projected to reduce benefits for some Medicaid participants, leading to states shouldering a greater share of costs even as overall enrollment remains relatively high.

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.