Number of Uninsured Children Grows in PA
The number of uninsured children in Pennsylvania grew, but just slightly, between 2016 and 2019.
That’s according to a new study from the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.
According to the study, the uninsured rate among children in Pennsylvania rose from 4.4 percent in 2016 to 4.6 percent in 2019 while the number of uninsured children rose from 126,000 to 128,000 during that same period of time.
Learn more about the changes in Pennsylvania, national trends, and why these numbers have grown in the Georgetown study “Children’s Uninsured Rate Rises by Largest Annual Jump in More Than a Decade.”
The letter refers to changes in how the federal Department of Health and Human Services wants hospitals to calculate the revenue they lost as a result of COVID-19 – the justification in part for the Provider Relief Fund payments hospitals have received through the CARES Act. In June, HHS told hospitals how to make that calculation but late last month it changed those directions in ways that could force many Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals to return some or even much of the federal aid they received.
The Department of Human Services has been issued a section 1135 waiver by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The waiver consists of two parts: it permits the provision of clinic services without the supervision of a physician or dentist and it permits the provision of inpatient psychiatric services to patients under the age of 21 without the direction of a physician. The purpose of section 1135 waivers is to give states greater flexibility to serve their Medicaid beneficiaries during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Go 
The number of new COVID-19 cases has been in four digits for four days in a row – the first time that has happened in more than four months.
Provider Relief Fund
Food and Drug Administration
Included in this month’s edition are articles about:
An Interagency Health Reform Council charged with developing recommendations on how to identify and capitalize on efficiencies in the existing health care system.
Department of State 
HHS Secretary Azar has renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, which was set to expire on October 23. With this renewal, the CMS waivers made possible by the declaration will remain in effect until January 21 unless the emergency is renewed again. View the renewal notice 
The enrollment increase can be traced to rising unemployment, with many people losing their employer-sponsored health insurance. The new figures cover five months, from February through June, the latter four of which marked the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Such a shift would be especially challenging for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because they already serve higher proportions of Medicaid and uninsured patients than the typical community hospital.