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

PHC4 Reports on PA Hospital Financial Performance

Pennsylvania hospitals’ financial performance in 2018 was mixed, according to a new analysis by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

According to PHC4,

uncompensated care declined two percent
total margins fell 0.05 percentage points
operating margins declined 0.39 percentage points
net patient revenue rose 3.9 percent
discharges fell 1.2 percent
inpatient days fell 0.3 percent

Learn more about the 2018 financial performance of acute-care hospitals in Pennsylvania, including data for every such hospital in the state and measures such as payer mix, in the PHC4 report Financial Analysis 2018: General Acute Care Hospitals

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-23T06:00:24+00:00May 23rd, 2019|Uncategorized|Comments Off

SNAP Joins Letter Urging Preservation of Tobacco Funding

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has joined 10 other organizations in urging Pennsylvania’s General Assembly to use 100 percent of Tobacco Settlement Fund monies for health-related services and programs in the coming fiscal year.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo For FY 2018-2019, Pennsylvania borrowed against future proceeds from the Tobacco Settlement Fund to help balance the state budget. Debt service payments will soon be due and the Wolf administration has proposed paying that debt service with proceeds from the state’s sales and use taxes. In a letter to state legislators, SNAP and the others endorse this aspect of the administration’s proposed budget FY 2019-2020 budget.

Tobacco fund proceeds are vital to Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals, helping to compensate them for some of the care they provide to uninsured and underinsured residents of the communities they serve. Funds used in this manner, moreover, are matched by the federal government, doubling their impact on communities in need.

See the letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-16T06:00:26+00:00May 16th, 2019|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania proposed FY 2020 budget, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Tackling Social Determinants of Health

Two states are working to address social determinants of health through their Medicaid programs.

In California and Oregon, the state Medicaid programs are using care coordination and funding from multiple sources, including traditional Medicaid funding, alternative payment approaches, and savings from care coordination to provide services such as housing, food, and legal assistance while also building the capacity of health care and community groups to support such efforts. Both states obtained federal Medicaid waivers to enable them to expend Medicaid resources on non-Medicaid-covered services.

Learn more about how California and Oregon are using their Medicaid programs to address social determinants of health in the Health Affairs report “Medicaid Investments To Address Social Needs In Oregon And California.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-15T06:00:53+00:00May 15th, 2019|Federal Medicaid issues, social determinants of health|Comments Off

SNAP Joins Letter Urging Preservation of Tobacco Funding (Letter)

In a joint letter with 10 other organizations, SNAP urges the state legislature to use 100 percent of Tobacco Settlement Fund money for health-related services and programs in FY 2020.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-09-01T18:05:31+00:00May 14th, 2019|Advocacy|Comments Off

CMS Speeds Up Medicaid Review Process

The federal government has greatly increased the speed with which it is reviewing and approving state applications to modify their Medicaid programs.

Most often, such applications involve Medicaid state plan amendments and section 1915 waiver requests.

According to a recent post on the CMS blog (in CMS’s own words),

Between calendar years 2016 and 2018, there was a 16 percent decrease in the median approval time for Medicaid SPAs [note: state plan amendments].
Seventy-eight percent of SPAs were approved within the first 90 day review period during calendar year 2018, a 14 percent increase over 2016.
Between calendar year 2016 and 2018, median approval times for 1915(b) waivers decreased by 11 percent, 1915(c) renewal approval times decreased by 38 percent, and 1915(c) amendment approval times decreased by 28 percent.
The backlog of pending SPA and 1915 waiver actions pending additional information from the states was reduced 80 percent from previous years.

Learn more in the CMS blog entry “CMS Streamlines Medicaid Review Process and Reduces Approval Times so States Can More Effectively Manage Their Programs.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-13T06:00:33+00:00May 13th, 2019|Federal Medicaid issues|Comments Off

New Poverty Level Standards to Jeopardize Medicaid Eligibility?

The Trump administration is considering changing how the federal government measures inflation for the purpose of calculating the federal poverty level.

Such a change, if implemented, could potentially reduce inflation-related increases in the federal poverty level, which in turn could limit the ability of some individuals and families to qualify, or continue to qualify, for a variety of public safety-net services – including, potentially, Medicaid.

Among the possible alternatives to the current methodology for calculating inflation is the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. The Obama administration also explored substituting this index for the current inflation factor.

Any change that makes it more difficult for people to qualify for Medicaid could be particularly damaging to Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, which are generally located in communities with especially large numbers of low-income residents. If patients lose their Medicaid eligibility because the criteria for participating in the program change, that could leave such hospitals serving even more uninsured patients and providing even more uncompensated care than they already do.

The federal Office of Management and Budget has issued a request for comment about various inflation factor calculation alternatives. Go here to see OMB notice Request for Comment on the Consumer Inflation Measures Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies. Comments are due in late June. Learn more from the New York Times article “Trump Administration Seeks to Redefine Formula for Calculating Poverty.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-10T06:00:54+00:00May 10th, 2019|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Senate Finance Committee Reports on Supplemental Medicaid Payments

The majority members of the Senate Finance Committee have published a report on supplemental Medicaid payments.

According to the new document,

This report seeks to increase educational understanding of Medicaid supplemental payments, as well as outline the reporting mechanisms for these payments to ensure adequate stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

The report consists of descriptions of the different types of supplemental Medicaid payments that states make to some providers, including:

Medicaid disproportionate share payments (Medicaid DSH)
non-DSH payments
upper-payment limit payments (UPL payments)
demonstration supplemental payments
medical education payments

It also describes the magnitude of these payments, noting that supplemental Medicaid payments accounted for $50 billion of the $600 billion spent on Medicaid by the federal and state governments in 2016, the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available. In addition, it outlines how those payments are distributed while also considering how these payments affect the overall adequacy of Medicaid payments to providers; this varies from state to state.

Finally, the report reviews how the states finance their Medicaid programs, including through provider taxes, intergovernmental transfers, and certified public expenditures, and how states report their supplemental Medicaid payments to the federal government.

All Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals receive supplemental payments from the state and consider those payments essential resources supporting their ability to serve the residents of the low-income communities in which they are generally located.

To learn more, see the report “Greater Transparency of Supplemental Payments Needed,” which was prepared by the majority staff of the Senate Finance Committee.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-06T06:00:12+00:00May 6th, 2019|DSH hospitals, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Uninsured ED and Inpatient Visits Down Since ACA

Uninsured hospital admissions and emergency department visits are down since passage of the Affordable Care Act.

And Medicaid-covered admissions and ER visits are up, according to a new analysis.

Hospital building The report, published on the JAMA Network Open, found that ER visits by uninsured patients fell from 16 percent to eight percent between 2006 and 2016, with most of this decline after 2014, while uninsured discharges fell from six percent to four percent.

The rate of uninsured ER visits declined, moreover, at a time when overall ER visits continued to rise.

While the Affordable Care Act is likely the cause of most of these changes, other contributing factors include the emergence of urgent care facilities, telemedicine, and free-standing ERs as well as new payment models and rules.

The study’s findings are especially good news for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because they care for so many more low-income patients than other hospitals and have benefited from the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of access to insurance, whether through Medicaid expansion or the private health insurance market.

Learn more in the JAMA Network Open article “US Emergency Department Visits and Hospital Discharges Among Uninsured Patients Before and After Implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-02T06:00:28+00:00May 2nd, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

PA Health Law Project Newsletter

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has published its March-April 2019 newsletter.

Included in this month’s edition are articles about:

The launch of a new tool to determine applicants’ eligibility for Medicaid-covered long-term services and supports.
An update on Medicare Part D payment problems that affect some dually eligible Medicare/Medicaid patients.
Highlights of the state’s Department of Human Services budget (including Medicaid).
An update on the status of the Affordable Care Act.

Go here for articles about these and other subjects.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-01T11:54:17+00:00May 1st, 2019|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance, Pennsylvania proposed FY 2020 budget|Comments Off

Safety-Net Hospitals, Others Benefit From Changes in Medicare Readmissions Program

Safety-net hospitals are among the leading beneficiaries of changes implemented this year in Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program.

According to a new study, safety-net, academic, and rural hospitals have enjoyed improved performance under the program since Medicare began organizing hospitals into peer groups based on the proportion of low-income patients they serve rather than simply comparing individual hospital performance to that of all other hospitals.

While the current fiscal year is still under way, it appears that safety-net hospitals will enjoy a collective decline of $22 million in Medicare readmissions penalties while 44.1 percent of teaching hospitals and 43.7 percent of rural hospitals will face smaller penalties than last year.

Learn more about the readmissions reduction program and how changes in that program have significantly altered its outcomes in the JAMA Internal Medicine study “Association of Stratification by Dual Enrollment Status With Financial Penalties in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-04-29T10:20:17+00:00April 29th, 2019|Medicare|Comments Off

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