Dickson Medicaid payments for state agency services climb 380% in 2024

In 2024, Dickson Medicaid providers charged $7,416,513 for services categorized under the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies, using figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This was a 380% jump over 2023, when claims in this service category totaled $1,544,979.

Medicaid is a government-run health insurance program overseen by states and funded through contributions from both federal and state governments. It insures low-income individuals, families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it one of the largest components of the U.S. health care framework.

As Medicaid funding is sourced from taxpayers, changes in billing patterns at the local level highlight how public dollars for health care are used within communities.

The “National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies” category includes a selection of Medicaid-billed service types, defined by standardized HCPCS and CPT coding ranges. For analytical purposes, every billing code was matched to a defined service category, using code prefixes and number sequences, enabling analysis of related services while avoiding duplication and maintaining correct rankings over time.

Although overall Medicaid spending increased in several service categories, National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies had the highest total payments of any category in Dickson for 2024.

Statewide across Tennessee, payments in this category also led all others by total value in 2024.

Across the five-year span leading to 2024, Dickson’s Medicaid payments for National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies rose by $6,203,509—a 511.4% increase. Growth rates were pronounced in particular periods, with significant annual jumps registered in both 2023 and 2020.

Though services in this category were delivered throughout the city, payments were concentrated in just a handful of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 37055 accounted for $7,416,512 in payments—representing 100% of all Dickson Medicaid payments for the National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies during the year.

Within this category, most Medicaid payments were also clustered among a small set of billing codes.

Comparing year over year, Dickson saw National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies-related Medicaid payments grow by 380% from 2023 to 2024, versus a 10.8% change for all Medicaid claim types citywide over that period.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures neared $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, which represented about 18% of all U.S. health costs. This is a notable increase from about $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This shift marks an approximate 40% rise in a few years, driven primarily by expanded enrollments and higher usage during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures passed during the Trump administration featured sizable proposals to cut federal Medicaid spending and revise the program’s structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion across the next decade and brings in requirements including work mandates and increased cost-sharing—changes expected to limit coverage and funding for some and shift a greater share of expenses to the states, even as Medicaid remains a major health support for millions nationally.

Note: HCPCS codes are provided to show category scope. All totals and rankings are based on standardized service groups, not individual code figures.

Data in this story comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The public data can be accessed here.