CARSON CITY — Nevada hospitals will see their Medicaid reimbursements reduced by 5 percent as the state Division of Health Care Financing and Policy adjusts to budget cuts ordered by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

The hospital rate reduction will save $5.8 million, division officials said at a public hearing on Friday.

Bill Welch, executive director of the Nevada Hospital Association, said the cuts will have a big impact, adding that the state is shifting costs to medical providers who will pass them on to patients.

Division Administrator Chuck Duarte said the cuts are part of the 3.3 percent budget reductions ordered by the governor. Already cut were services in the state’s Check-Up program for children. Those changes capped dental services to $600 a year and eliminated orthodontic and optical services.

The division also plans a hearing on Tuesday to consider eliminating $420,000 to hospitals for training graduate students.

At Friday’s hearing, division officials said Medicaid won’t be paying for eye glasses for adults and seniors, and a 28 percent increase in rates for obstetric services, ordered in 2002 when a medical malpractice crisis hit, will be erased.

Duarte said the state will have to monitor the impact of the reductions. He added that it could mean sending some patients out of state.

Welch said the potential loss of revenue to the hospitals could reach $19 million. He also said that Medicaid pays only 70 percent of the cost for the care of such patients.

Besides the state reductions, Welch said there may be other cuts since Clark and Washoe counties tie their payments to hospitals for treatment of poor people to the Medicaid rate, as do some managed-care agencies.