DSH hospitals Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

Delay Medicaid DSH Cut, Pelosi Says

Medicaid DSH cuts should be delayed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told a gathering of hospital officials.

According to Speaker Pelosi,

DSH cuts threaten to erode the health of community hospitals, safety-net hospitals and rural hospitals, [affecting] the health of not only the families that rely on Medicaid, but any person who relies on these hospitals for care.

SNAP members all receive Medicaid DSH payments and would be harmed if the scheduled cut takes effect on October 1.

Learn more about Speaker Pelosi’s remarks in the Becker’s Hospital Review article “House speaker urges Congress to ease Medicaid payment cuts to hospitals serving low-income patients.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-04-15T06:00:36+00:00April 15th, 2019|DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

MACPAC Makes DSH, UPL Recommendations

Changes could come in Medicaid DSH and UPL payments if new MACPAC recommendations are adopted.

Last week the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission released its annual report to Congress, with most of the report focusing on its analysis and recommendations for policy updates involving Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicaid DSH) and Medicaid upper payment limit payments (UPL payments).

With Affordable Care Act-mandated cuts in Medicaid DSH payments scheduled to start in FY 2020 – this coming October – MACPAC recommended that these cuts be reduced and phased in over a longer period of time “…to give states and hospitals more time to respond to the cuts…”

MACPAC also recommended that Congress and the administration revise the current methodology for distributing Medicaid DSH money to the states to “…provide a stronger link between the distribution of those allotments and measures of hospital uncompensated care…”

The commission also addressed UPL payments, expressing concern about “…the discrepancy between reporting by states to show that they are complying with the UPL and the spending data they report to claim federal matching funds” and recommending “…instituting better data and process controls to ensure that state reporting on compliance with UPL lines up with those amounts they are claiming, and existing limits are enforced.

Medicaid DSH and UPL payments are especially important to SNAP and Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because of the significant number of low-income, Medicaid-covered, and uninsured patients they serve.

Learn more from MACPAC’s news release summarizing its recommendations and the entire MACPAC annual report.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-03-20T06:00:41+00:00March 20th, 2019|DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

“Medicaid Shortfall” Definition Changing?

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission last week discussed possible changes in how “Medicaid shortfall” is defined for the purpose of determining how much Medicaid disproportionate share money (Medicaid DSH) safety-net hospitals should receive.

The discussion came in the wake of a court decision last year that ruled that third-party payments toward Medicaid-covered services could not be included in hospitals’ Medicaid shortfall calculations.

MACPAC commissioners discussed several statutory changes that would seek to minimize the impact of the court ruling:

Include third-party payments in the definition of Medicaid shortfall.
Exclude from the Medicaid DSH definition of Medicaid shortfall all payments and costs for patients who have third-party coverage.
Explore new rules that address different types of third-party coverage.

MACPAC is an advisory body whose recommendations to Congress are not binding but its views are respected and often find their way into future public policy.

This subject is important to Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because all of them receive Medicaid DSH payments.

Learn more about MACPAC’s deliberations on Medicaid shortfalls and Medicaid DSH from the Fierce Healthcare article “MACPAC considers recommending change to definition of ‘Medicaid shortfall’ at safety net hospitals.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-03-13T06:00:58+00:00March 13th, 2019|DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

MACPAC: Slow Medicaid DSH Cuts

Slow the pace of scheduled cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicaid DSH), the non-partisan agency that advises Congress and the administration will tell Congress in its next report of policy recommendations.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission voted 16-1 recently to recommend to Congress that Medicaid DSH cuts, mandated by the Affordable Care Act but delayed three times by Congress, be reduced in size and spread out over a longer period of time.

Currently, Medicaid DSH allotments to the states are scheduled to be reduced $4 billion in FY 2020 and then $8 billion a year in FY 2021 through FY 2025. MACPAC recommends that the cuts be reduced to $2 billion in FY 2020, $4 billion in FY 2021, $6 billion in FY 2022, and $8 billion a year from FY 2023 through FY 2029.

MACPAC commissioners also voted to urge Congress to restructure the manner in which Medicaid DSH allotments to the states are calculated based on the number of low-income individuals who reside in the states.

Most Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals receive Medicaid DSH payments and consider them a vital resource in helping to underwrite the uncompensated care they provide to uninsured patients.

MACPAC is a non-partisan legislative branch agency that provides policy and data analysis and makes recommendations to Congress, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the states on a wide array of issues affecting Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Learn more about MACPAC’s actions on Medicaid DSH in the Fierce Healthcare article “MACPAC calls for Congress to delay cuts to safety-net hospitals.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-02-04T06:00:11+00:00February 4th, 2019|Affordable Care Act, DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C.

The following is MACPAC’s own summary of the sessions.

Hospital payment was a key focus of MACPAC’s January meeting with the Commission voting on Thursday to approve two sets of recommendations, the first addressing the structure of disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotment reductions and the second directed to improving compliance with upper payment limit requirements. Both sets of recommendations are slated for inclusion in MACPAC’s March 2019 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP.

Later that morning, the Commission discussed a study on performance and return on investment for state program integrity strategies. This session was originally scheduled for the December meeting. Following a break for lunch, the Commission was briefed on a new report by Mathematica Policy Research, under contract to MACPAC, regarding beneficiary enrollment in the Financial Alignment Initiative, which is testing new approaches to integrating care for people who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Later, staff presented an analysis of the factors affecting physician decisions to accept new Medicaid patients.

Friday’s sessions opened with a panel of experts discussing how utilization management policies are applied to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Under the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act (P.L. 115-271), MACPAC is required to study utilization management policies related to MAT and report on these by late October 2019. The meeting concluded with its third and final session on hospital payment: how to account for third-party payments in the DSH definition of Medicaid shortfall.

Supporting the commissioners’ deliberations were the following presentations prepared by MACPAC staff.

Because SNAP members serve so many Medicaid patients, MACPAC’s deliberations are especially relevant to them because its recommendations often find their way into future Medicaid and CHIP policies.

MACPAC is a non-partisan legislative branch agency that provides policy and data analysis and makes recommendations to Congress, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the states on a wide array of issues affecting Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-01-29T06:00:09+00:00January 29th, 2019|DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments|Comments Off

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