A Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals proposal to implement performance standards for physicians who care for low-income residents has come under criticism from child care advocates who say the program will lead doctors to stop participating in the state's CommunityCARE program, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. As of January, about 706,419 state residents were enrolled in the program, 83.75% of whom are children. Through CommunityCARE, qualifying low-income residents can receive no-cost or subsidized health coverage. Under the DHH proposal, physicians would be evaluated based on measures including how many of their child patients come in for well-visit checkups or how many adult patients get screened for breast or cervical cancer. Many doctors already meet or exceed these standards, according to DHH Secretary Alan Levine.

Doctors participating in CommunityCARE who fail to meet performance milestones would lose the $3 monthly payment for managing patients' care…