In 2024, Medicaid providers in Kennewick billed $1,955,432 for services categorized as Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This sum represents an 83.4% rise from 2023, when claims for these services totaled $1,066,159.
Medicaid is a public insurance program managed by the states and jointly funded by federal and state governments. It serves low-income people, families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities, comprising a significant part of the U.S. health care system.
Given that Medicaid payments are taxpayer-funded, shifts in local billing indicate how public health dollars are allotted throughout a community.
The “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment” category comprises a set of Medicaid-billed services defined by care type, using uniform HCPCS and CPT code groupings. This analysis assigned each billing code to a single category based on standardized code prefixes and numbers, enabling reliable comparisons and preventing double counting throughout different time periods.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment ranked as the fifth highest Medicaid payment category in Kennewick for 2024, even as overall Medicaid spending rose across many service types.
Statewide in Washington, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category ranked fourth in total Medicaid spending for 2024.
Throughout the five years leading up to 2024, Kennewick Medicaid payments related to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment rose by $296,838, or 17.9%. Certain years, including 2020 and 2021, saw particularly marked annual increases in spending.
Although services in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category were available citywide, the majority of payments were directed to a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 99336 accounted for $1,870,327 and 99338 represented $85,104; together, these 2 ZIP codes comprised all Medicaid spending for this treatment category in Kennewick during the year.
Payment concentrations also existed within a narrow set of billing codes for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment category.
In contrast to the 83.4% growth in Medicaid payments for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment between 2024 and 2023 in Kennewick, total Medicaid claim payments citywide increased by 2.5% over the same period and across all categories.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state expenditures for Medicaid reached about $871.7 billion during fiscal year 2023, making up around 18% of all national health care spending. This was a significant increase from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This nearly 40% climb stems primarily from expanded Medicaid enrollment and increased medical service use throughout and following the pandemic years.
Recent federal budget changes under the Trump administration have brought major proposals to scale down federal Medicaid resources and reorganize the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is projected to cut over $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending over 10 years. The act also establishes work requirements and expanded cost-sharing, potentially leading to less coverage and funding for certain enrollees. With these policies, a greater share of Medicaid costs is expected to shift to states and future growth in federal support could be restrained, even as Medicaid continues to provide coverage to tens of millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $1,658,594 | 202.5% |
| 2021 | $2,304,299 | 38.9% |
| 2022 | $1,473,054 | -36.1% |
| 2023 | $1,066,159 | -27.6% |
| 2024 | $1,955,431 | 83.4% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $11,062,152 | 30.8% |
| 2 | Procedures / Professional Services | $6,244,331 | 17.4% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $5,646,426 | 15.7% |
| 4 | Evaluation and Management | $4,830,530 | 13.5% |
| 5 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $1,955,431 | 5.4% |
| 6 | Dental Services | $1,927,454 | 5.4% |
| 7 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $1,634,420 | 4.6% |
| 8 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $826,420 | 2.3% |
| 9 | Radiology Procedures | $603,974 | 1.7% |
| 10 | Surgery | $571,654 | 1.6% |
| 11 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $261,225 | 0.7% |
| 12 | Durable Medical Equipment | $213,452 | 0.6% |
| 13 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $88,519 | 0.2% |
| 14 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $33,745 | 0.1% |
| 15 | Vision Services | $4,181 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Temporary Codes | $3,398 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $3,176 | <0.1% |
| 18 | Outpatient PPS | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| H0001 | Alcohol and/or drug assess | $669,294 | 69 |
| H2012 | Behav hlth day treat, per hr | $434,052 | 11 |
| H0043 | Supported housing, per diem | $238,896 | 23 |
| H0004 | Alcohol and/or drug services | $186,441 | 72 |
| H0045 | Respite not-in-home per diem | $174,296 | 5 |
| H2023 | Supported employ, per 15 min | $89,613 | 21 |
| H2025 | Supp maint employ, 15 min | $66,150 | 9 |
| H0038 | Self-help/peer svc per 15min | $39,082 | 81 |
| H0023 | Alcohol and/or drug outreach | $28,044 | 11 |
| H0046 | Mental health service, nos | $14,961 | 28 |
| H2021 | Com wrap-around sv, 15 min | $7,303 | 95 |
| H0031 | Mh health assess by non-md | $4,426 | 10 |
| H0032 | Mh svc plan dev by non-md | $2,852 | 42 |
| H2015 | Comp comm supp svc, 15 min | $16 | 18 |
| H2014 | Skills train and dev, 15 min | $0 | 6 |
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.
