Medicaid payments for medicine services and procedures in North Little Rock rose to $4,108,902 in 2024

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows Medicaid providers in North Little Rock billed $4,108,902 for services in the Medicine Services and Procedures category during 2024. That figure represents a 2.5% growth compared to 2023, when providers submitted $4,009,286 in claims for the same services.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program operated by states and financed through a partnership of federal and state governments, covers low-income individuals, families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. This makes it a core component of the U.S. health care system.

Because taxpayer dollars fund Medicaid, shifts in local billing reflect how a community allocates its public health care spending.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category outlines a range of Medicaid-billed services defined by the care provided through HCPCS and CPT code groups. For this review, each billing code is assigned to one service category based on preset prefixes and numeric ranges, which groups related services for analysis, helps prevent double counting, and ensures accurate rankings year-to-year.

Medicine Services and Procedures ranked as the second-largest Medicaid payment category in North Little Rock in 2024, as Medicaid expenditures grew across various categories.

Statewide, this category was also second by total Medicaid payments in Arkansas during 2024.

Over the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments connected to Medicine Services and Procedures in North Little Rock increased by $2,107,385, equal to a 105.3% jump. Certain periods saw especially strong growth, with significant year-over-year jumps in 2022 and 2023.

While care classified as Medicine Services and Procedures was provided throughout the city, the majority of payments were tied to a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, the largest Medicaid payments in this category came from ZIP code 72118 at $1,920,509, 72116 at $1,381,683, and 72117 at $548,830. Collectively, these top 3 ZIP codes made up 93.7% of all related Medicaid payments in North Little Rock for the year.

Within the Medicine Services and Procedures category, most payments centered on a limited portion of billing codes.

For context, Medicine Services and Procedures Medicaid payments in North Little Rock increased by 2.5% between 2024 and 2023, compared to a 5.6% change across all Medicaid claims in the city during the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023 and made up roughly 18% of U.S. health care expenditures, a marked increase compared with the $613.5 billion total in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This jump, amounting to nearly 40% over only a few years, was primarily caused by higher enrollment and greater use of services during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures under the Trump administration have included sweeping policies to cut federal Medicaid funding and rework the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” implemented in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years and introduces policies such as work requirements and increased cost-sharing, potentially impacting coverage and federal resources for some recipients. These revisions are likely to drive a larger share of costs to states and restrict the growth of federal Medicaid funding, even as it remains a critical resource for tens of millions of Americans.

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.