SNAP to PA Delegation: Help Us Fight Coronavirus
Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals need help fighting COVID-19, the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania declared in a letter to members of the state’s congressional delegation.
In addition to the resources sought by hospitals everywhere – equipment, supplies, funding for expanded capacity to accommodate patients suffering from COVID-19 – SNAP emphasized three specific types of assistance in its letter to the delegation:
- Help with cash flow. As requested by the federal government and others, SNAP hospitals have limited or suspended elective surgery so they can focus their resources on COVID-19 patients. This will create a cash-flow problem for them: while they will be doing everything they can to care for their patients and will be expending considerable resources doing so, their revenue will decline. These hospitals need up-front funding to replace the revenue they will lose and to help compensate them for the considerable costs they are incurring to prepare for the surge of patients they have been told to expect so they can keep the lights on, patient rooms and supply closets adequately stocked, and staff paid.
- The elimination of Affordable Care Act-mandated reductions of Medicaid DSH allotments to the states. Congress has already delayed these reductions on numerous occasions and late last year there was every indication that Congress would do so again. At a time when hospitals are facing the gravest threat to the public health that they have seen in many years they should not be forced to waste valuable time planning the reductions in staffing and spending they would need to make if the cuts are implemented as scheduled on May 23.
- No new programs or requirements in future COVID-19-related legislation that would increase hospitals’ regulatory burden. In recent weeks Congress and the administration have appropriately reduced certain regulatory requirements on a temporary basis and it would be counterproductive to offset this much-needed regulatory relief by introducing new regulations and requirements.
See SNAP’s letter to the Pennsylvania congressional delegation here.
Since yesterday, the Department of Human Services has issued the following four new guidance documents:
Governor’s Order Closing State Businesses
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Shares COVID Response Overview
The following summary of PA legislative actions was compiled by Cynthia Fernandez of Spotlight PA and Gillian McGoldrick of Lancaster Online.
CMS Catastrophic Plan Coverage Guidance 
PACE Prescription Drug Program 
New Guidance From the State
Among the issues addressed in the FAQ are eligibility, enrollment, benefits, cost sharing, workforce issues, telehealth, and more. Health care providers may find this information useful when serving their patients.
The insurers – Aetna, Capital Blue Cross, Cigna, Geisinger, Highmark, Independence Blue Cross, Pennsylvania Health & Wellness, United Healthcare, and UPMC Health Plan – will cover such tests when they are medically ordered and performed by approved medical labs.
The February 2020 MACPAC meeting opened with a continuation of MACPAC’s examination of Medicaid’s role in maternal health, when Medicaid officials from Michigan, New Jersey, and North Carolina joined the Commission to discuss how their states are addressing maternal morbidity and mortality.* The Commission plans to include a chapter on maternal health in its June 2020 report to Congress. Commissioners later turned their attention to policy options for improving enrollment in the Medicare Savings Program.
Included in this month’s edition are articles about: