Federal Medicaid issues Archives - Page 3 of 11 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

MACPAC Issues Recommendations to Congress

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission has submitted its annual report to Congress on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The report includes recommendations for:

improving Medicaid’s responsiveness during economic downturns
addressing concerns about high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality;
reexamining Medicaid’s estate recovery policies
integrating care for people who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare
improving hospital payment policy for the nation’s safety-net hospitals

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 (CHIP).” Its mandate calls for it to address matters such as Medicaid and CHIP payment, eligibility, enrollment and retention, coverage, access to care, quality of care, and the programs’ interaction with Medicare and the health care system generally.

Because Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals care for so many more Medicaid and CHIP participants than the typical community hospital, MACPAC’s deliberations are especially important to them.

Learn more about MACPAC’s recommendations in its Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP.

PA Safety Net Admin2021-03-23T06:00:52+00:00March 23rd, 2021|Federal Medicaid issues|Comments Off

SNAP Asks PA Delegation for Help From COVID-19 Relief Bill

The next federal COVID-19 relief bill should include more resources for the Provider Relief Fund, SNAP has told members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo The bill also should include additional targeted funding for safety-net hospitals, help with staffing, an extension of the current moratorium on the Medicare sequestration, and forgiveness for safety-net hospitals for loans they received under the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program.

This was the message the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania conveyed last week in a letter to members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation. See that letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2021-02-05T17:20:29+00:00February 5th, 2021|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicare|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.

MACPAC kicked off its January meeting with a review of a draft chapter for the March 2021 report to Congress and recommendations on a mandatory extension of Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum. The Commission received extensive public comment on the recommendations. On Friday, the Commission approved three recommendations as drafted related to postpartum coverage. The Commission recommended that Congress should:

extend the postpartum coverage period for individuals who were eligible and enrolled in Medicaid while pregnant to a full year of coverage, regardless of changes in income. Services provided to individuals during the extended postpartum coverage period will receive an enhanced 100 percent federal matching rate;
extend the postpartum coverage period for individuals who were eligible and enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) while pregnant (if the state provides such coverage) to a full year of coverage, regardless of changes in income; and
require states to provide full Medicaid benefits to individuals enrolled in all pregnancy-related pathways.

Commissioners then turned their attention to Medicaid estate recovery policies that affect beneficiaries using long-term services and supports (LTSS). Commissioners on Friday approved recommendations to:

make estate recovery optional rather than required;
allow states with managed long-term services and supports to pursue recovery based on the cost of services where it is less than the capitation payment paid to a managed care plan; and
direct the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish minimum hardship waiver standards, including a minimum estate value threshold for estate recovery.

Next, the Commission considered recommendations for countercyclical financing adjustments in Medicaid. This would allow federal financial stimulus to be directed to states more quickly during economic downturns and provide states with greater budget predictability. The Commission approved a recommendation that Congress should adopt a statutory mechanism to amend the Social Security Act to provide an automatic Medicaid countercyclical financing model, using the prototype developed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office as the basis. The Commission also recommended this policy change should include:

an eligibility maintenance of effort requirement for the period covered by an automatic countercyclical financing adjustment;
an upper bound of 100 percent on countercyclical adjusted matching rates; and
exclusion of countercyclical adjusted federal matching rate from services and populations that receive special matching rates (e.g., for the new adult group) or are otherwise capped or have allotments (e.g., disproportionate share hospital payments, territories).

After a break on Thursday, Commissioners discussed a draft chapter for the March 2021 report on design considerations for creating a new program for dually eligible beneficiaries and reviewed a report to Congress by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Medicaid housing supports for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). The Commission plans to send a letter to HHS and leadership of relevant congressional committees commenting on the Secretary’s report to Congress on Medicaid housing supports for people with SUD who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Next, Commissioners heard a panel discussion on the outlook for state budgets and the implications for Medicaid with Emily Blanford, program principal at the National Conference of State Legislatures; Shelby Kerns, executive director for the National Association of State Budget Officers; and Susie Perez Quinn, government affairs director for the National Governors Association. * The day ended with a presentation on value-based payment for maternity services.

On Friday, Commissioners heard a panel discussion on how Medicaid serves people with intellectual or developmental disabilities with Sharon Lewis, a principal at Health Management Associates; Melissa Stone, director of Arkansas’ Division of Developmental Disabilities Services; and Elizabeth Weintraub, a senior advocacy specialist at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. * Additional sessions focused on a congressionally mandated MACPAC study of non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT), which will be included in the June 2021 report to Congress. In addition, Commissioners heard a new analyses of care integration for dually eligible beneficiaries, and a discussion of potential new models for payment and coverage of high-cost specialty drugs. The meeting concluded with a discussion of mental health parity in Medicaid.

Supporting the discussion were the following briefing papers:

Because they serve so many Medicaid and CHIP patients – more than the typical hospital – MACPAC’s deliberations are especially important to Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.

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 variety of issues affecting Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Find its web site here.

PA Safety Net Admin2021-02-02T06:00:35+00:00February 2nd, 2021|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

GAO: CMS Should Pay More Attention to States’ Financing of Medicaid

The federal government does not adequately monitor how states finance their Medicaid programs.

It also lacks a sufficiently clear understanding of how they pay providers of Medicaid-covered services.

These are among the conclusions in a new study on Medicaid financing and payments by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

According to the GAO report,

GAO estimated that states’ reliance on provider taxes and local government funds decreased states’ share of net Medicaid payments (total state and federal payments) and effectively increased the federal share of net Medicaid payments by 5 percentage points in state fiscal year 2018. It also resulted in smaller net payments to some providers after the taxes and local government funds they contribute to their payments are taken into account. While net payments are smaller, the federal government’s contribution does not change. This effectively shifts responsibility for a larger portion of Medicaid payments to the federal government and away from states.

To address this challenge, the GAO urged CMS to collect more complete and consistent information about both state financing of their Medicaid programs and the manner in which states pay Medicaid providers. CMS neither agreed nor disagreed with the GAO’s recommendation.

Such a study could have implications for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because of the state’s growing dependence on provider taxes to fund its Medicaid programs in recent years.

Learn more about what the GAO found and recommended in its new report “Medicaid: CMS Needs More Information on States’ Financing and Payment Arrangements to Improve Oversight.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-12-15T06:00:16+00:00December 15th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

SNAP Asks PA Delegation for COVID-19 Aid

SNAP has written to Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to request additional COVID-19 legislation between now and the end of the year to help Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals respond to the health care and financial challenges posed by the pandemic.

In its letter, SNAP asked Congress for:

additional funding for the Provider Relief Fund for assistance to hospitals;
extension of the temporary moratorium on continued implementation of the 2011 Budget Control Act’s Medicare sequestration; and
the suspension of any other federal cuts for health care providers, such as the scheduled reduction of Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) allocations to the states.

Read SNAP’s message to Congress.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-12-08T06:00:24+00:00December 8th, 2020|Coronavirus, COVID-19, DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

SNAP Seeks Help From End-of-Year Federal Legislation

Eliminate Medicaid disproportionate share hospital cuts (Medicaid DSH), appropriate additional resources for the Provider Relief Fund, and extend the current suspension of the two percent sequestration of Medicare spending, the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania asked members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation in a letter SNAP sent earlier this week.

The request comes as Congress returns to Washington to take up the funding of the federal government at a time when authorization for spending under a continuing resolution ends on December 11. In addition to addressing federal funding, Congress also may consider COVID-19 legislation.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-11-19T06:00:26+00:00November 19th, 2020|COVID-19, DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|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.

The October 2020 MACPAC meeting opened with a panel discussion on restarting Medicaid eligibility redeterminations when the public health emergency ends. It included Jennifer Wagner, director of Medicaid eligibility and enrollment at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; René Mollow, deputy director for health care benefits and eligibility at the California Department of Health Care Services; and Lee Guice, director of policy and operations at the Department for Medicaid Services, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

After a break, Commissioners heard a panel discussion with Kevin Prindiville, executive director at Justice in Aging; Mark Miller, executive vice president of healthcare at Arnold Ventures; and Charlene Frizzera, senior advisor at Leavitt Partners, on creating a new program for dually eligible beneficiaries. Later, staff presented preliminary findings from a mandated report on non-emergency medical transportation. The day concluded with a report on nursing facility acuity adjustment methods.

On Friday, the day began with a session on access to mental health services for adults in Medicaid. It was followed by a related panel discussion on mental health services with Sandra Wilkniss, director of complex care policy and senior fellow at Families USA; Melisa Byrd, senior deputy director for the District of Columbia Department of Health Care Finance; and Dorn Schuffman, director of the CCBHC Demonstration Project at the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Next, the Commission considered the merits of extending Medicaid coverage for pregnant women beyond 60 days postpartum. Staff then provided an update on a statutorily required analysis of disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments, as well as an analysis of addressing high-cost drugs and the challenges they present to Medicaid.

The meeting concluded with comment on the Secretary’s report to Congress on Reducing Barriers to Furnishing Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Services Using Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring for Pediatric Populations under Medicaid. The Commission decided to send a letter to Congress and the Secretary commenting on this report.

Supporting the discussion were the following briefing papers:

Because they serve so many Medicaid and CHIP patients – more than the typical hospital – MACPAC’s deliberations are especially important to Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.

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 variety of issues affecting Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Find its web site here.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-11-17T15:00:47+00:00November 5th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Congress Gives Hospitals Medicaid DSH Relief

Medicaid DSH allocations to states will not be reduced right away thanks to a new continuing resolution to fund the federal government through December 11.

The Medicare disproportionate share allocation cuts to the states, mandated by the Affordable Care Act but delayed by Congress several times, were delayed again earlier this year but scheduled to take effect on November 11. With the latest continuing resolution, the cuts will be delayed yet another month.

SNAP worked hard to encourage Congress to include the Medicaid DSH delay in the continuing resolution, doing so most recently in this September 14 letter to members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation. Medicaid DSH payments are an important tool in helping Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals serve their predominantly low-income communities, so SNAP also is urging Congress to eliminate the Medicaid DSH cut entirely.

Learn more about the delay of Medicaid DSH cuts and other aspects of the continuing resolution that affect hospitals in the Healthcare Dive article “Providers win Medicare loan extension, DSH relief but lose other asks in stop-gap spending law.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-10-08T13:00:02+00:00October 8th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments|Comments Off

MFAR is Dead

At least for now.

The controversial Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation, slated for implementation this fall over the objections of many health care stakeholders, will not move forward at this time.

In a tweet earlier this week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma wrote that

We’ve listened closely to concerns that have been raised by our state and provider partners about potential unintended consequences of the proposed rule, which require further study. Therefore, CMS is withdrawing the rule from the regulatory agenda.

If implemented, opponents maintained, the regulation would have:

Deprived states of important, established policy-making prerogatives.
Created major new administrative burdens for state governments and hospitals.
Inappropriately regulated financing of the state share of Medicaid spending.
Introduced new, unspecified standards for state Medicaid programs.

While CMS maintained that MFAR would have enhanced the transparency of state Medicaid programs, the rule’s opponents maintained that it could lead to a major reduction of resources for serving the Medicaid population.

SNAP was among those opponents, arguing that the regulation could have hurt Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals and others that serve low-income communities by inappropriately regulating how states can finance their Medicaid programs. CMS proposed the rule last November; SNAP submitted formal comments expressing its opposition in January; and SNAP rallied Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to oppose the rule in February, March, and July.

It is worth noting that in “withdrawing the rule from the regulatory agenda,” Verma did not preclude the possibility of reintroducing MFAR at some point in the future.

Learn more from article “Trump administration backing off Medicaid rule that states warned would lead to cuts” in the online publication The Hill.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-09-17T06:00:46+00:00September 17th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

CMS Provides Guidance on Medicaid DSH Calculations

State Medicaid program accounting for hospital uncompensated care when calculating hospital-specific Medicaid disproportionate share limits is the subject of new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In the guidance, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services explains that because of several court rulings, states can decide for themselves whether to offset third-party payer payments from costs in their Medicaid DSH calculations for periods prior to June 2, 2017 but that beginning with that date, CMS will enforce its own interpretation of the policy.

In new guidance, CMS presents two methodologies for accounting for its mid-year policy change and reminds stakeholders about its new methodology for calculations after June 2, 2017. Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services and its Office of Medical Assistance Programs have not yet indicated how they will respond to the options CMS has presented.

Learn more from this Medicaid notice and from its accompanying CMS informational bulletin “Treatment of Third Party Payers (TPP) in Calculating Uncompensated Care Costs (UCC).”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-08-31T19:55:39+00:00August 27th, 2020|Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

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