PA Safety Net Admin, Author at Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

Decision Time Looms for PA, Other States On Medicaid Expansion

The time for states to decide whether they will expand their Medicaid programs in accordance with the Affordable Care Act is fast approaching.
With the Medicaid expansion due to begin in 2014, thirteen states seem likely to opt out, 14 appear ready to expand, and the rest are still on the fence.
Among the major concerns of states still deciding are the cost of expansion and their concern that the federal government, currently scheduled to assume almost all of the cost of expansion, may at some point decide to shift more of expansion’s costs to state governments.
Pennsylvania is among the undecided states, but comments in recent months by Governor Corbett suggest that he is leaning against Medicaid expansion in the commonwealth. The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) supports that expansion.
Read more about the deliberations taking place in state capitals across the country, and the questions with which elected officials are wrestling, in this Washington Post article .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-12-07T06:00:28+00:00December 7th, 2012|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Corbett: Not Enough Info to Decide on Exchange

Pennsylvania cannot decide whether to operate its own health insurance exchange or allow the federal government to operate an exchange for the state until it gets more information from the federal government about the regulations governing exchanges, how much they will cost to operate, and what a partnership with the federal government might look like.
That’s the message Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett conveyed last week.
Health insurance exchanges are among the most important components of the Affordable Care Act. States have until December 14 to inform the federal government whether they will operate their own exchange and Pennsylvania is one of ten states that still had not made this decision.
Read more about Governor Corbett’s thoughts on health insurance exchanges and the additional information he seeks before deciding in this PA Independent article .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-12-05T06:00:55+00:00December 5th, 2012|Health care reform|Comments Off

Reform Medicaid Provider Tax, Editorial Urges

In a recent editorial, the Washington Post called for the federal government to reform the provider taxes that most states use to help finance their Medicaid programs.
Provider taxes essentially enable states to increase the effective rate at which the federal government matches their Medicaid spending. Past efforts to limit provider taxes have failed, but the Post calls for reform to be phased in over a number of years.
Pennsylvania currently levies two such taxes: a state-wide hospital assessment and a Philadelphia assessment. Both are important parts of the financing of the state’s Medical Assistance program. Provider taxes are thought to be on the table during the current fiscal cliff negotiations between the Obama administration and congressional leaders.
Read the Washington Post editorial on Medicaid provider taxes here .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-12-04T06:00:58+00:00December 4th, 2012|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Governors Will Give In On Medicaid Expansion, Experts Predict

Lured by billions of dollars in federal money, governors resisting the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion option will eventually give in and expand their states’ Medicaid programs as provided for in the 2010 health care reform law.
Or so predict several experts who participated in a recent health policy forum in Washington, D.C.
Some may not do so right away, the experts warned, but the financial benefits of expanding their Medicaid programs and capturing billions in federal Medicaid matching money will eventually become too much to resist.
Pennsylvania is among many states still not committed to Medicaid expansion. In recent public statements, Governor Tom Corbett has suggested that the state cannot afford to spend the additional money expansion would require.
Read more about the policy forum and the experts’ predictions in this Politico article .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-12-03T06:00:59+00:00December 3rd, 2012|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Cost of Medicaid Expansion Would be Minimal for PA

Expanding Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act would cost Pennsylvania $1.96 billion over the ten years beginning in FY 2013, according to a new report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
While that price tag may seem steep, it is only 1.4 percent more than the additional money the state would spend if it declines to expand its Medicaid program as the 2010 health care reform law envisioned.
Expanding Medicaid would spur a 52 percent increase in the number of Pennsylvanians with health insurance. Without the Medicaid expansion, the number of insured would rise 28.9 percent because of other Affordable Care Act provisions.
Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals would benefit greatly from the expansion of Medicaid in the state. Many of the uninsured patients they currently serve would almost certainly become eligible for Medicaid under such an expansion.
Learn more about how Medicaid expansion would affect Pennsylvania in this Central Penn Business Journal article. The Kaiser Family Foundation study on which it is based can be found here .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-11-29T11:41:24+00:00November 29th, 2012|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Editorial Endorses PA Medicaid Expansion

In a Sunday editorial, the Philadelphia Inquirer has urged Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to expand the state’s Medicaid program, as called for in the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Expansion, the editorial notes, would bring health insurance to 600,000 additional people, with the federal government picking up most of the tab, while creating jobs and boosting the state’s economy.

Read the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial here .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-11-27T06:00:17+00:00November 27th, 2012|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Pennsylvania and OB DSH Payments

As part of a three-part series titled “Labor Pains,” the Philadelphia Business Journal has documented the OB/NICU disproportionate share (DSH) payments that Philadelphia-area hospitals have received from Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program since 2007. Many of the recipients are safety-net hospitals, including a number of members of the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP).
Read about the payments and why they were created and gain access to other parts of the “Labor Pains” series via this Philadelphia Business Journal article .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-11-26T06:00:18+00:00November 26th, 2012|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Corbett Hints at No PA Medicaid Expansion

Without explicitly ruling out expansion of the state’s Medicaid program, which is now an optional part of the federal health care reform law, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has hinted broadly that the state may not be prepared to spend the additional money such an expansion would necessitate.
“I don’t think there’s any way we can absorb this,” the governor told the Pennsylvania Press Club, speaking of the Medicaid expansion that is a major part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Read more about what those costs would be, and the challenges the state would face in expanding its Medicaid program, in this PA Independent article.

PA Safety Net Admin2012-11-23T06:00:34+00:00November 23rd, 2012|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Safety-Net Hospitals Lead in Births

Ten of the 21 busiest maternity units in southeastern Pennsylvania in 2011 were in safety-net hospitals.
And three of those top five are members of the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP): Pennsylvania Hospital (#2), the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (#3), and the Albert Einstein Medical Center (#5).
Other SNAP members in the top 21 are Hahnemann University Hospital (#11) and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (#12).
SNAP views offering maternity services as one of the core functions of safety-net hospitals. Most safety-net hospitals offer this service.
To learn more about which hospitals are delivering babies in what numbers in southeastern Pennsylvania, read this Philadelphia Business Journal article .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-11-21T06:00:11+00:00November 21st, 2012|Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Mixed Financial Results for PA Non-Acute-Care Hospitals

Margins were up for Pennsylvania rehabilitation hospitals and down for free-standing psychiatric hospitals in 2011.
This news comes from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4), which has just released its latest report, Financial Analysis 2011 – Volume Three, which details the financial performance of rehabilitation, free-standing psychiatric, long-term care acute, and specialty hospitals in Pennsylvania in 2011.
Among other interesting findings, Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance program accounted for 54.9 percent of patient revenue at the state’s 19 psychiatric hospitals.
Find the report, a news release announcing its publication, and the data from the report available as an Excel file here , on the council’s web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2012-11-19T06:00:00+00:00November 19th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off

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