“We anticipate that the type of information gathered generally will be information available to the general public.”

….

Generally, if you want to know if a particular practice participates in Medicare, Medicaid or any other health plan, all you have to do is ask – they’ll be happy to tell you. Overpaid government investigator “mystery shoppers” are not necessary. But doing things in the least expensive, most direct fashion doesn’t seem to be a strong point with government.

Just a couple of weeks ago, when I visited my ophthalmologist, I asked him if his practice accepted Medicaid patients. His answer? “Not anymore. They didn’t pay us for over a year, and when we finally did get paid, it didn’t cover expenses. So we decided we’d rather take the time off than waste it working for nothing.”

Anyway, there’s no law that requires private medical practices to accept Medicare or Medicaid patients.