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

Verma Responds to MFAR Critics

CMS administrator Seema Verma addresses criticism of her agency’s proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation in a new commentary on the CMS blog.

Critics of the so-called MFAR regulation have argued that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed regulation, if adopted, will lead to a reduction of federal funding for state Medicaid programs, jeopardize access to care and the financial health of providers by leading to a reduction of supplemental payments to high-volume Medicaid providers, and possibly even force some states to raise taxes to compensate for the loss of federal funding.

In her commentary Verma rebuts these criticisms, maintaining that the proposed regulation seeks to ensure that states pay their fair share of their Medicaid partnership with the federal government, raise that share in a manner consistent with federal guidelines, and spend it in ways that fall within regulatory standards. She also maintains that the regulation will foster greater transparency and accountability for the Medicaid program.

Verma notes that more than 4000 stakeholders submitted written comments in response to the proposed regulation. SNAP was among those commenters, writing that MFAR would give too much authority to federal regulators; create new administrative burdens for hospitals and state governments; and inappropriately limit state financing of their share of Medicaid spending.

Learn more from the Verma CMS blog commentary “Medicaid Fiscal Integrity: Protecting Taxpayers and Patients” and from SNAP’s letter in response to the proposed regulation.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-14T06:00:39+00:00February 14th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

340B Déjà Vu: CMS Seeks to Collect Data From Hospitals

For the second time in four months, the federal government has announced its intention to collect data from hospitals and other providers on what they pay for the prescription drugs they purchase through the section 340B prescription drug discount program.

Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a notice announcing its intention to collect this data. Previously, health care interests sued CMS when it attempted in 2018 to reduce payments to providers for drugs purchased through the 340B program and the court ruled against CMS, maintaining that the agency did not have enough data on hospitals’ acquisition costs for the drugs to justify the proposed payment reduction. The newly announced data collection effort seeks to rectify that shortcoming as the court considers CMS’s appeal of a similar decision in a lawsuit filed after CMS again proposed reducing 340B payments and was again rebuffed by the courts in 2019.

Under federal law, CMS must publish a notice declaring its intention to collect such data and seek input from stakeholders. For this particular notice, stakeholders have until March 9 to respond.

CMS published a similar notice in September of 2019 announcing its intention to collect similar data. That data collection never took place.

Most Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals participate in the 340B program and consider it a vital tool in serving the many low-income residents of the communities in which they are located.

To learn more about CMS’s 340B data collection effort, see the notice it published in the Federal Register and read the Becker’s Hospital Review article “CMS ready to survey 340B hospitals about drug acquisition costs.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-13T06:00:33+00:00February 13th, 2020|340b, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Verma Responds to Medicaid Block Grant Critics

Last week the Trump administration unveiled its Healthy Adult Opportunity program, a new, optional, already-controversial approach to structuring state Medicaid programs.

Ever since, the program – essentially, Medicaid block grants – has been the subject of criticism from many public officials and health care stakeholders.

Now, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma, who oversaw the development of Healthy Adult Opportunity, has responded to the program’s critics in an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post. See her commentary “No, the Trump administration is not cutting Medicaid.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-12T06:00:12+00:00February 12th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues|Comments Off

Health Care Groups Rebel Against Proposed Federal Regulation, Program

The administration’s proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation and its guidance encouraging states to implement Medicaid block grants have incurred widespread opposition among a variety of health care groups.

The Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation would, if adopted, impose new restrictions on how states raise their share of their Medicaid spending, potentially limiting state participation in Medicaid or necessitating tax increases to fill the funding gap if long-accepted financing tools are no longer available to them.

Bookshelf with law books The Medicaid block grant guidance offers states a blueprint for curtailing their Medicaid costs by imposing limits on that spending that they negotiate with the federal government.

Numerous health care groups have expressed reservations or direct opposition to one or both of the proposals. Among them:

AARP
America’s Essential Hospitals
America’s Health Insurance Plans
American College of Emergency Physicians
American Health Care Association
American Hospital Association
American Medical Association
Association for Community Affiliated Plans
Association of American Medical Colleges
Coalition of Long-Term Acute-Care Hospitals
LeadingAge
National Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals
National Association of State Budget Officers
National Association of Medicaid Directors
National Continuing Care Residents Association
National Governors Association
Private Essential Access Community Hospitals

Among the groups submitting formal comment letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in response to the proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation was the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania. See SNAP’s letter here.

Learn more about why these groups object to these two new policy developments in articles in Axios (“A little-noticed Medicaid proposal could have huge consequences”), Bloomberg Law (“Trump Plan to Tame State Medicaid Finance Schemes Sees Pushback”), Health Affairs (“Proposed Rules On Medicaid Financing Miss Mark And Threaten Access”), Healthcare Dive (“Payers, providers urge CMS to scrap rule targeting supplemental Medicaid payments”), Healthcare Finance News (“Providers, payers, others speak out against federal proposals for Medicaid funding”), McKnight’s Long-Term Care News (“Providers rally against proposed Medicaid supplemental payment rules that threaten ‘major financial burdens’”), McKnight’s Senior Living (“CMS proposal would be ‘major financial burden’ for CCRCs, residents, organizations say”), and U.S. News & World Report (“Governors Warn Trump Rule Could Lead to Big Medicaid Cuts”)

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-10T06:00:34+00:00February 10th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Wolf Administration Proposes New Human Services Initiatives for FY 2021

New human services efforts to support vulnerable populations are a major part of Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed $36.06 billion FY 2021 budget for Pennsylvania.

The proposed budget, presented to the state legislature earlier this week, includes the following new initiatives:

creating pathways to success in the workforce for low-income Pennsylvanians
increasing the minimum wage to $15
increasing Department of Human Services staffing to support licensing and oversight
supporting adults in long-term-care facilities
legal services for vulnerable populations
direct care worker comprehensive training
commitment to performance-based metrics, accountability, and transparency in services and licensing
supporting vulnerable populations through home- and community-based services and reducing waiting lists
prevention services to support at-risk families
improving food security while supporting agriculture

Go here to see DHS’s presentation of these initiatives.

In addition, the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has prepared a detailed memo describing the proposed FY 2021 budget’s implications for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals and the state’s Medicaid program. For a copy of this memo, use the “contact us” link in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-07T06:00:38+00:00February 7th, 2020|Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance, Pennsylvania proposed FY 2021 budget, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Pennsylvania state budget issues, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Pennsylvania Health Law Project Newsletter

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has published its January 2020 newsletter.

Included in this month’s edition are articles about:

the transition to a new Medicaid prescription drug list (PDL);
the rollout of a new electronic visit verification system for Medicaid-paid home health services; and
progress in the state’s effort to introduce major changes in its Medical Assistance transportation program (MATP).

Read about these subjects and more in the Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s January 2020 newsletter.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-05T06:00:12+00:00February 5th, 2020|Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance|Comments Off

PA Says No to Medicaid Block Grants

Pennsylvania is not interested in pursuing the new Medicaid block grants being offered by the administration, leading state officials said last week.

In a news release, Governor Wolf said that

I expanded Medicaid in Pennsylvania to allow for more than 700,000 people to have reliable health care access. Pennsylvania will not go backwards. I will not risk jeopardizing our progress by going along with another short-sighted, insensitive plan to cut Medicaid…

Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller, who oversees the Pennsylvania Medicaid program that serves approximately 2.8 million people, echoed this sentiment:

Changing any part of Medicaid to a block grant structure is the federal government permitting states to grow health inequities experienced by the poorest Americans. This cruel policy will directly target people who have the most opportunity to see their life and circumstances improved by consistent access to necessary health care and will keep people trapped in the cycle of poverty.

Learn more about why Pennsylvania will not pursue a Medicaid block grant in the Wolf administration news release “Pennsylvania Will Not Participate in Trump Administration Scheme to Cut Medicaid.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-04T06:00:35+00:00February 4th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

SNAP Asks Feds to Withdraw Medicaid Financing Regulation

CMS should withdraw its proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation, SNAP has suggested in a formal comment letter to the federal agency in response to a new regulation it proposed in November.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo According to the comment letter SNAP submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,

SNAP is concerned that this proposed regulation would inappropriately restrict the state’s ability to finance the non-federal share of the Medicaid program, would impose significant additional regulatory burdens – the cost of which would far outstrip their benefit – would inappropriately introduce subjectivity into the application of previously clear and objective regulatory standards, and is beyond the scope of the statutory authority granted to CMS.

Learn more about SNAP’s views on the proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation and why SNAP believes CMS should withdraw it in SNAP’s formal comment letter.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-03T06:00:47+00:00February 3rd, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP Asks CMS to Withdraw Proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation (Letter)

SNAP asks the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to withdraw a proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation that grants too much authority to federal regulators, limits states’ ability to finance their share of Medicaid spending, introduces ill-defined standards to the evaluation of state applications to modify their Medicaid programs, and imposes major new regulatory burdens on hospitals and state Medicaid programs.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-09-01T18:00:50+00:00January 31st, 2020|Advocacy|Comments Off

Supreme Court Lifts Public Charge Rule Ban

The U.S. can now reject visa and green card applicants based on their financial prospects after a new Supreme Court ruling this week.

This ruling has potential long-term implications for health care providers.

Last August a new Department of Homeland Security regulation took effect that authorized the federal government to reject immigrants’ applications for visas and green cards if their financial situation and employment prospects suggested that they might become a “public charge” and dependent on government safety-net programs like Medicaid and food stamps. A number of groups sued to prevent the rule’s implementation and federal courts imposed an injunction against its enforcement but now the Supreme Court has lifted the last of these injunctions.

The Supreme Court’s ruling, however, did not address the merits of the public charge rule. Instead, the court concluded that the lower courts that imposed the injunctions had overstepped their authority. As a result, lower courts will continue to hear individual suits challenging the rule. Meanwhile, the State Department and Department of Homeland Security will enforce it.

In 2019 the State Department rejected 12,000 visa applications. In 2016, it rejected only 1000.

The public charge regulation poses a challenge to health care providers amid anecdotal evidence that some immigrants who already are in the U.S. legally and were enrolled in Medicaid withdrew from the program and others who also are in the U.S. legally and are eligible for Medicaid are choosing not to apply for benefits out of a mistaken fear that they or members of their families could be deported. Over time these practices, if they continue, could leave health care providers with more unpaid bills and a greater uncompensated care burden as they care for individuals who are qualified for Medicaid but decline to enroll in the program and cannot pay their medical bills.

Implementation of the public charge regulation may prove especially challenging for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals located in areas with large numbers of low-income immigrants. These hospitals could be at risk for rising amounts of uncompensated care.

Learn more about the public charge issue, the Supreme Court’s decision, and what might happen next in the New York Times article “Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Wealth Test for Green Cards.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-01-29T06:00:41+00:00January 29th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

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