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

Perspective on Medicaid

A new report looks at how Medicaid has affected the health and health care of people throughout the country.
The Commonwealth Fund report “Understanding the Value of Medicaid” examines the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid and notes that the program currently serves 73 million children, seniors, low-income working adults, and people with disabilities.
It also examines how Medicaid expansion has enhanced access to care and even given some people medical benefits comparable to those offered by private insurance.
Finally, the report notes that safety-net hospitals that serve especially large numbers of low-income patients now serve fewer uninsured patients and are better able to invest in new staff, clinics, and equipment, thereby enhancing the quality of care they deliver.
For a closer look at the impact Medicaid has on the American health care system, see this Commonwealth Fund report.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-10-14T06:00:35+00:00October 14th, 2016|Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

New Study Questions 30-Day Readmissions as Measure of Hospital Quality

Hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge may not be a good way of judging the quality of care hospitals provide, a new study suggests.
Seven days may be more like it.
According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, the impact of the quality of care a hospital provides appears to be most evident immediately upon patients’ discharge from the hospital.
Further, the study suggests,

… most readmissions after the seventh day postdischarge were explained by community- and household-level factors beyond hospitals’ control.

The researchers’ conclusion?

Shorter intervals of seven or fewer days might improve the accuracy and equity of readmissions as a measure of hospital quality for public accountability.

The findings call into question the approach employed by Medicare through its’ hospital readmissions reduction program. Some of the issues the study cites – community and household factors – are the very kinds of challenges that Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals face far more often than the typical community hospital in the state.
To learn more about how the study was performed and what its implications might be, go here to see the Health Affairs study “Rethinking Thirty-Day Hospital Readmissions: Shorter Intervals Might Be Better Indicators Of Quality Of Care.’

PA Safety Net Admin2016-10-12T06:00:20+00:00October 12th, 2016|Medicare, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Pennsylvania Health Law Project Newsletter

phlp The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has published its September 2016 newsletter.
Included in this edition are stories about the selection of managed care organizations to participate in the state’s new Community HealthChoices program to provide community-based managed long-term services and supports to individuals who receive both Medicaid and Medicare and who are eligible for nursing home care; the open enrollment period for Medicare and Medicare Part D drug plans; the awarding of six “Navigator grants” to Pennsylvania organizations that counsel people interested in obtaining health insurance through the federal health insurance marketplace; and actions take by the state to improve access to pediatric shift nursing and home health aide services for children covered by Medicaid.
Find the newsletter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-10-10T06:00:18+00:00October 10th, 2016|Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

MACPAC Looks at Medicaid DSH

With Medicaid disproportionate share payments (Medicaid DSH) facing future reductions, the agency charged with advising Congress on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance payment and access matters is considering what changes the federal supplemental Medicaid payment program might need.
At a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission discussed the changing role and purpose of Medicaid DSH as more Americans obtain health insurance through private or public sources. MACPAC commissioners noted that hospital uncompensated care is falling, especially in states that have taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act to expand their Medicaid programs.
A new Medicaid DSH formula set to be used for FY 2018, based more heavily than the current formula on the number of uninsured people in individual states, is expected to result in larger-than-average reductions for hospitals in Medicaid expansion states.
Among the steps commissioners discussed were examining how hospitals use their Medicaid DSH funds; considering how any changes in the distribution of Medicaid DSH funds might affect other parts of states’ health care systems; and the role states should play in determining the allocation of Medicaid DSH funds.
Medicaid DSH funds are a vital source of support to help Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals care for their many uninsured patients.
For a closer look at the issue and MACPAC’s deliberations, see this CQ Roll Call article presented by the Commonwealth Fund.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-26T06:00:26+00:00September 26th, 2016|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

MACPAC Meets

The federal agency responsible for advising Congress on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program payment and access issues met last week in Washington, D.C.
According to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission,

The initial sessions of MACPAC’s September 2016 Commission meeting focused on hospital payment policy, first discussing MACPAC’s new work to develop an index of Medicaid inpatient payments across states and relative to Medicare, and later looking at how Affordable Care Act coverage expansions have affected hospitals serving a disproportionate share of low-income patients, including those with Medicaid coverage. The Commission then reviewed state policies for covering and paying for services in residential care settings, part of the drive to rebalance long-term services and supports from institutions to the community.

A briefing on MACPAC’s recent roundtable on improving service delivery to Medicaid beneficiaries with serious mental illness kicked off the afternoon sessions, followed by a discussion of Medicaid financing and its relationship to provider payment policies. At the final session of the day, the Commission reviewed the possible elements of a package of recommendations on children’s coverage and the future of CHIP.

The following are the presentation materials referenced during the meeting:

MACPAC’s deliberations often have implications for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-23T06:00:11+00:00September 23rd, 2016|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Medicare Readmissions Down Almost Everywhere

Hospitals in 49 of the 50 states have reduced their Medicare readmissions since the federal health care program introduced its readmissions reduction program in 2010.
Only hospitals in Vermont have failed to cut readmissions.
Nationally, readmissions fell more than five percent in 43 states and more than ten percent in 11 states. Overall, readmissions fell 100,000 in 2015 alone compared to 2010 and have fallen 565,000 since 2010.
As the program ages more medical conditions are being subjected to the readmissions reduction program’s requirements. In the coming year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates it will penalize 2500 hospitals $538 million for failing to reduce their readmissions.
Learn more about CMS’s efforts to reduce readmissions among Medicare patients in this entry on the CMS Blog.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-22T06:00:36+00:00September 22nd, 2016|Medicare, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Senate May Tackle Socio-economic Risk Adjustment

With a House bill to adjust Medicare payment penalties based upon the socio-economic challenges posed by the patients some hospitals serve folded into a House bill that passed in June, the Senate may take up this issue during its fall session.
Health economists, policy experts, and providers generally agree that the performance of hospitals that serve especially large numbers of low-income patients is affected in a number of areas, including Medicare readmissions, meeting value-based purchasing criteria, and others.
And while the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acknowledges the challenge, the agency has rejected calls for risk adjustment so far, repeatedly writing that it does not “want to mask potential disparities or minimize incentives to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged populations.”
Meanwhile, a growing body of research has documented that the anticipated impact of serving socioeconomically challenged patients is real and more and more people are joining the call for Congress or CMS to address the problem.
Compounding the challenge is that hospitals that serve such patients are faced with growing financial penalties from Medicare if they fail to perform at levels comparable to hospitals that face fewer challenges.
For a closer look at the issue, the arguments on both sides, and the prospects for congressional action this fall, see this article from CQ Roll Call presented by the Commonwealth Fund.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-20T06:00:19+00:00September 20th, 2016|Medicare|Comments Off

New ACO Model Targets Social Determinants of Health

The federal government is altering a previously announced accountable care organization model to help it target the social determinants of health of the patients it serves.
The Accountable Health Communities model, launched by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in January, has been modified to target “community-dwelling Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with unmet health-related social needs.”
According to a CMS fact sheet,

The foundation of the Accountable Health Communities Model is universal, comprehensive screening for health-related social needs of community-dwelling Medicare, Medicaid, and dual-eligible beneficiaries accessing health care at participating clinical delivery sites. The model aims to identify and address beneficiaries’ health-related social needs in at least the following core areas:

Housing instability and quality,
Food insecurity,
Utility needs,
Interpersonal violence, and
Transportation needs beyond medical transportation.

Addressing the health-related associated with social determinants of health has long been one of the major challenges Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals face.
CMS anticipated participating ACOs serving their members through annual screenings of needs, increased dissemination of information about how to address health-related social needs, and appropriate referrals to community resources to meet those needs.
Among the organizations invited to apply to participate are community-based groups, health care organizations, hospitals and health systems, institutions of higher education, and government entities. In recognition of the need for a more patient-focused approach than CMS proposed in January, the number of members participating ACOs must serve has been reduced the potential award amount has been raised.
To learn more about the Accountable Health Communities model, why it has been modified, what it hopes to accomplish, and how it will operate, see this CMS fact sheet.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-19T09:40:14+00:00September 19th, 2016|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Federal Medicaid Per Capita Spending Limits?

As they have in the past, some members of Congress have suggested of late that Medicaid might benefit from being transformed into a program with limited spending per capita: that is, such an approach would limit the amount of money the federal government would provide to states on a per capita basis.
Such an approach would almost certainly have serious implications for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.
What issues would need to be addressed to develop such an approach? What data would be needed?
Earlier this year the chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to answer these and other questions. Now, the GAO has published its answers in a new report titled Key Policy and Data Considerations for Designing a Per Capita Cap on Federal Funding. Find that report here.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-16T06:00:12+00:00September 16th, 2016|Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

SNAP Comments on Proposed Medicaid DSH Regulation

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has written to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to object to how the agency proposes changing its methodology for calculating eligible hospitals’ Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) payments.
In particular, SNAP opposes the manner in which CMS would treat payments from Medicare and third-party payers made on behalf of Medicaid-eligible individuals.
In SNAP’s view, the letter notes,

…the hospital-specific DSH limit has come to penalize the very hospitals that Medicaid DSH payments were designed to support.

The SNAP letter explains that

What concerns SNAP at this time is CMS’s apparent decision to rationalize and codify in regulations a narrower interpretation of the Medicaid DSH limit than what Congress described in section 1923(g) of the Social Security Act.

Read SNAP’s complete letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-15T06:00:48+00:00September 15th, 2016|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

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