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

Access to Care Declines

Non-elderly and uninsured adults have less access to health care than they did ten years ago, according to a new study released by the Urban Institute.
The study, “Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults Over the Past Decade,” also concluded that this deterioration of access can be found in almost every state, is even worse for the uninsured, and is especially great in states with the highest uninsured rates.
Learn more about this erosion of the health care safety net and download the entire report here , on the Urban Institute’s web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2012-05-11T06:00:23+00:00May 11th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Medicaid Raises Doc Pay

Primary care physicians serving Medicaid patients will receive a raise in their fees for the next two years.
The raises, a temporary measure mandated by the Affordable Care Act, will be in effect for calendar years 2013 and 2014 and will raise Medicaid’s primary care physician fees to the same level paid by Medicare for comparable services.
The $11 billion needed to pay for this raise will come from the federal government. States will not be required to provide matching funds.
Read a news release from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) about the new Medicaid primary care fee here, a CMS fact sheet here, and the newly proposed regulation here .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-05-10T10:13:00+00:00May 10th, 2012|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Impact of Reform

Health care reform is having a significant impact on entities throughout central Pennsylvania according to a recent article in the Central Penn Business Journal.
The article examines the impact of reform from several perspectives, including those of businesses, employers, insurers, providers, benefit brokers, and lawyers. Read about it in greater detail in this Central Penn Business Journal article .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-05-08T06:00:18+00:00May 8th, 2012|Health care reform|Comments Off

Newborn Pay Cut

Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance program will no longer pay hospitals for care they provide to normal newborns delivered by patients who participate in the state’s fee-for-service program.
This policy change, which took effect on May 1, will have a greater impact on Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals than on other hospitals because safety-net hospitals are involved in far more Medicaid-covered deliveries than other hospitals – two-thirds of such births according to the recent SNAP report Pennsylvania’s Safety-Net Hospitals: Vital Providers, Vital Employers, which you can find here.
The policy change governing how Medicaid will pay hospitals for the care they provide to normal newborns is described in greater detail in a May 4 Medical Assistance Bulletin, which you can read here .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-05-07T06:00:56+00:00May 7th, 2012|Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Medicaid Info

The April 2012 edition of the Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s monthly newsletter Senior Health News includes information about the state’s Medical Assistance Transportation Program, an increase in selected Medicaid co-pays, the expansion of the state’s HealthChoices program, and dual-eligibles. Read about these issues and more here , on the web site of the Pennsylvania Health Law Project.

PA Safety Net Admin2012-05-04T06:00:36+00:00May 4th, 2012|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

Revenue Boost Offers Hope

Higher-than-expected state revenue collections offer hope that the Pennsylvania General Assembly may support the restoration of some of the Medical Assistance cuts included in Governor Tom Corbett’s proposed FY 2013 state budget.
The state’s revenue shortfall for the year was projected to be more than $700 million, but by the end of April, unexpectedly strong revenues have reduced the current shortfall to less than half that amount with only two months left in the state’s fiscal year. The restoration of proposed spending cuts has always hinged this year on better-than-anticipated collections, so the state’s strong revenue picture may free up enough money for some restoration – including, possibly, of some proposed Medicaid spending cuts.
Restoration would benefit Pennsylvania’s high-volume Medicaid providers and its 57 private safety-net hospitals.
Read more about the state’s revenue picture and its implications for the governor’s proposed budget and the prospect of some Medical Assistance spending cut restoration in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-05-03T06:00:59+00:00May 3rd, 2012|Pennsylvania state budget issues|Comments Off

Readmissions Report

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) has issued a new report on hospital readmissions.
Health care reform efforts at both the state and federal levels have targeted avoidable hospital readmissions as major causes of rising health care costs. In issuing the report, PHC4 notes that not all readmissions are preventable.
Preventing readmissions is a particular challenge for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because of the difficulties many low-income patients have complying with their post-discharge medical instructions.
Read more about the report and download Hospital Readmissions in Pennsylvania 2010 here , on the PHC4 web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2012-05-02T06:00:37+00:00May 2nd, 2012|Health care reform, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Welcome to the New SNAP Web Site!

Welcome to the new web site of the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania. Here you can learn more about SNAP: who we are, what we stand for, the issues that are important to us, and how we advocate the interests of the private, acute-care hospitals that play the greatest role in caring for low-income Pennsylvanians.
We invite you to spend some time exploring our site and to return often. In this space we will present information relevant to anyone who is interested in the state’s safety-net hospitals, the Pennsylvania Medicaid program that insures so many of their patients, and how public policy in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. affects the ability of these safety-net hospitals to serve their communities.

PA Safety Net Admin2012-04-24T14:16:43+00:00April 24th, 2012|Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Safety-net hospitals fulfill a vital role as employers in Pennsylvania’s economy. SNAP’s latest research found that safety-net hospitals employ more people in comparison to other hospitals, pay better wages than non-hospital jobs across the commonwealth, and provide an important measure of economic stability in communities across Pennsylvania.
At a time when cuts have been proposed in Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance program, it is important that state policy-makers understand how reducing such spending could undermine the economies in already-troubled communities across the state. Take a closer look at the impact of Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals on the state’s economy in the SNAP report “Pennsylvania’s Safety-Net Hospitals: Vital Providers, Vital Employers.”

PA Safety Net Admin2012-04-24T14:15:47+00:00April 24th, 2012|Pennsylvania state budget issues, Uncategorized|Comments Off

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