Pennsylvania Medicaid policy Archives - Page 12 of 43 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

SNAP Thanks PA Delegation for Supporting Short-Term Medicaid DSH Cut Delay

SNAP has written to members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to thank them for voting for a temporary delay of Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) cuts mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

The Medicaid DSH delay was included in a continuing resolution that Congress passed to fund the federal government temporarily while legislators continue to negotiate an FY 2020 federal budget. The continuing resolution and the Medicaid DSH cut delay run through November 21.

Medicaid DSH cuts mandated by the Affordable Care Act have already been delayed several times by Congress, but if not delayed again, Pennsylvania will see its federal Medicaid DSH allotment fall 40 percent in FY 2020 and 80 percent a year from FY 2021 through FY 2025.

See SNAP’s thank you note to Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation here.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-10-03T06:00:35+00:00October 3rd, 2019|DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

ACA May be Improving, Saving Lives

The insurance expansion made possible by the Affordable Care Act may be improving and even saving lives, some studies and anecdotal evidence suggest.

While observers warn that it is difficult to attempt to render a final verdict on the reform law’s insurance expansion and its impact, various studies and observations point to encouraging developments. Among them:

High blood pressure is being detected at a higher rate now among people who bought insurance as a result of the ACA than it was prior to the law’s passage.
Fewer 19-26 year-olds, now permitted to remain on their parents’ health insurance, are choosing not to see a doctor about their asthma because of the cost of seeking care.
Women in Michigan report having an easier time obtaining birth control pills.
Participants in a Michigan program are reporting an increased likelihood of learning they have chronic medical conditions than was the case before they were insured.
People between their mid-50s and mid-60s living in states that expanded their Medicaid programs, and who took advantage of that expansion, had a lower death rate than similar people in non-expansion states.

Pennsylvania is among the 37 states (including the District of Columbia) that took advantage of the Affordable Care Act to expand its Medicaid program.

Learn more about some of the documented and observed benefits of the Affordable Care Act’s improved access to health insurance in the Washington Post article “With the Affordable Care Act’s future in doubt, evidence grows that it saves lives.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-10-02T15:52:54+00:00October 2nd, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

SNAP Takes Position on State Medicaid Funding After Hahnemann Closure

Pennsylvania’s Medicaid resources should follow now-closed Hahnemann University Hospital’s Medicaid patients as those patients turn to new providers, the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania declared in a position statement issued this week.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo According to SNAP,

…the best way to protect access to care and prevent additional financial strain on Philadelphia hospitals is to ensure that all state resources reallocated in the wake of Hahnemann University Hospital’s closure follow the displaced patients.

In preparation for addressing this challenge, SNAP performed a data-based analysis of where Medicaid patients turned for care upon the closing of St. Joseph’s Hospital, like Hahnemann a high-volume Medicaid provider and located in the same community as Hahnemann, in 2016. This analysis identified where patients went when St. Joseph’s closed and in its position statement, SNAP urges state policy-makers to perform similar analyses and ensure that state Medicaid resources, especially supplemental payments made to hospitals that serve especially large numbers of Medicaid patients, be distributed to the hospitals that actually serve displaced Hahnemann patients. Such an approach, SNAP maintains, is the best way to ensure the future of the health care safety net in Philadelphia.

Learn more in the SNAP position statement “Protecting Philadelphia’s Health Care Safety Net From the Financial Implications of the Closing of Hahnemann University Hospital.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-09-18T13:24:14+00:00September 18th, 2019|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

PA Slams Brakes on Medicaid Transportation Program Overhaul

The plan to introduce major changes in Pennsylvania’s free medical transportation program for the Medicaid population has temporarily been halted.

As envisioned by the state, the current program, in which individual counties contract independently with transportation providers to serve their residents on Medicaid, was to be replaced by a regional approach in which the state contracts with three vendors to serve all of Pennsylvania. Objections by members of the state legislature and county officials, however, led to legislation that requires the Department of Human Services, Department of Transportation, and Department of Aging to study the implications of such a change for patients and taxpayers and to report their preliminary findings to the legislature in September.

Learn more about Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance Transportation Program, how it works now, how the state sought to change it, and what to expect in the near future in the Philadelphia Inquirer article “Overhaul of PA’s medical transport program on hold after counties raise concerns.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-08-06T06:00:31+00:00August 6th, 2019|Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance|Comments Off

DHS Secretary Says No to Medicaid Work Requirements

Pennsylvania will not seek federal permission to create a Medicaid work requirement, Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller told a joint hearing of the State Senate Republican Policy Committee and Health and Human Services Committee this week.

Miller conveyed what a news release described as

…the Wolf Administration’s firm opposition to work requirements for Medicaid recipients and the administration’s work to expand access to education and training programs and services to support employment for people served by DHS’ programs.

In her testimony, Miller explained that

Our goal is always to set policy and implement programs that empower Pennsylvanians to live fulfilling lives, support themselves and their families, contribute to our local economies, and build stronger communities. This is not about opposition to work. We want all people to achieve a better quality of life and not be caught in an intergenerational cycle of poverty. The Wolf Administration is not simply opposed to a work requirement; we are committed to increasing opportunities for meaningful work and providing the whole-person supports we contend are needed.

A Medicaid work requirement could affect the Medicaid eligibility of patients served by Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals.

Learn more about Secretary Miller’s testimony in this Department of Human Services news release.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-06-14T06:00:07+00:00June 14th, 2019|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Change Coming to PA’s Medicaid Transportation Program

Pennsylvania’s Medicaid transportation program will soon be undergoing major change.

By law, states must provide free non-emergency medical transportation for their Medicaid recipients. The Pennsylvania Medical Assistance Transportation Program has fulfilled that mandate for the past 35 years, with county governments shouldering primary responsibility for providing or arranging for the transportation for their Medicaid-covered residents.

Under a plan adopted by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, which administers the state’s Medicaid program, that would change, with the state currently reviewing proposals from private vendors that would serve as brokers and assume this responsibility for large sections of the state: the eastern, central, and western parts of Pennsylvania.

Changing the program in this manner would enable Pennsylvania to change the classification of medical transportation from an administrative cost to a service cost, which would drawn down more federal Medicaid matching funds and save the state about $10 million a year.

Learn more about what the state is doing, why it is doing it, and why some people believe the new approach may be more expensive and less effective in the Philadelphia Inquirer article “As changes come to Pa. Medicaid transportation program, counties fear bumps in road.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-06-13T06:00:53+00:00June 13th, 2019|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance|Comments Off

Medicaid Expansion Helps Pregnant Women and Their Babies

An intuitive assumption now has evidence to support it: Medicaid expansion has improved the health of pregnant women and their babies.

According to a new study from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families,

…states that expand Medicaid improve the health of women of childbearing age: increasing access to preventive care, reducing adverse health outcomes before, during and after pregnancies, and reducing maternal mortality rates.

Better health for women of childbearing age also means better health for their infants. States that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act saw a 50 percent greater reduction in infant mortality than non-expansion states.

The report notes that the number of uninsured women of childbearing age in Pennsylvania fell 49 percent during the three years after Pennsylvania expanded its Medicaid program. Significant numbers of these newly insured women are served by Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.

Learn more, including specific health benefits enjoyed by pregnant women and their babies, in the Georgetown study “Medicaid Expansion Fills Gaps in Maternal Health Coverage Leading to Healthier Mothers and Babies.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-06-03T16:17:14+00:00June 3rd, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, 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

SNAP Endorses Governor’s Proposal for Paying for Tobacco Borrowing

Debt service on the state’s borrowing against future proceeds from the national master tobacco settlement agreement should be paid using state sales and use tax revenue, SNAP has declared in a new position statement.

Last year the state borrowed $1.5 billion against future proceeds from the tobacco settlement. Some tobacco settlement money is used to help hospitals with the cost of uncompensated care they provide via tobacco uncompensated care payments and tobacco extraordinary expense payments made to hospitals that meet specific criteria: how much uncompensated care they provide, the proportion of their patients insured by Medicaid, and the proportion of low-income seniors they serve. All Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals qualify for these payments.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo Because the state’s borrowing against future tobacco settlement proceeds was never intended to result in a reduction of these payments in the future, SNAP has issued a position statement endorsing the Wolf administration’s suggestion, in its proposed FY 2020 budget, to pay debt service on its tobacco borrowing with sales and use tax revenue.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-04-16T06:00:51+00:00April 16th, 2019|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania proposed FY 2020 budget, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Pennsylvania state budget issues|Comments Off

New Medical Assistance Bulletin Addresses Hospital Uncompensated Care

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has issued a new Medical Assistance Bulletin titled “Hospital Responsibilities Related to the Uncompensated Care Program and Charity Care Plans.”
According to the document,

The purpose of this Medical Assistance (MA) Bulletin is to remind hospitals of the requirements for the Hospital Uncompensated Care Program (Program) and reinforce the responsibility of hospitals to actively engage patients when determining eligibility for the Program.

See the entire Bulletin here.

PA Safety Net Admin2018-01-08T06:00:47+00:00January 8th, 2018|Pennsylvania Bulletin, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance|Comments Off

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