Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania Archives - Page 4 of 9 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

SNAP Joins Others in Letter to PA Senators

SNAP was among 27 Pennsylvania health care organizations to send a joint letter to senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey pointing out aspects of the House-passed American Health Care Act that could jeopardize access to care for medically vulnerable Pennsylvanians.
Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo Among the issues addressed in the letter are how the House-passed proposal would detract from the role of Medicaid in fighting the state’s opioid crisis; the proposed reduction in tax credits to help purchase health insurance; the challenge posed by a per capita approach to Medicaid financing; the potential loss of health care jobs; the likelihood of large numbers of Pennsylvanians losing their health insurance and state Medicaid costs rising significantly; and the erosion of consumer protections.
See the complete letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-06-13T06:00:29+00:00June 13th, 2017|American Health Care Act, Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP, Other Groups Caution PA Delegation About Health Reform Bill

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has joined 13 other groups in writing to members of the state’s congressional delegation to warn about shortcomings in the American Health Care Act, health care reform legislation currently being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo The letter warns that the American Health Care Act would “…dramatically reduce Medicaid coverage and strain resources for this critical program.”

Read that letter here, on SNAP’s web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-05-03T06:00:03+00:00May 3rd, 2017|American Health Care Act, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|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

CMS Unveils New Medicaid Managed Care Regulation

For the first time in more than 20 years, the federal government is introducing major changes in how it regulates Medicaid managed care.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services describes the 1425-page rule as aligning Medicaid managed care with other health insurance programs, updating how states purchase managed care services, and improving beneficiaries’ experience with Medicaid managed care.
To learn more about what CMS has proposed, go here to see the rule itself.
Go here to see CMS’s news release accompanying the new regulation.
Go here to (under the link “final rule”) to find nine fact sheets summarizing key aspects of the new regulation.
And go here for a commentary on the new rule and the context in which it was released by CMS acting administrator Andy Slavitt.
SNAP has prepared a memo describing the new rule. Representatives of such hospitals may request a copy of this memo by using the “contact us” link in the upper right-hand portion of this screen.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-04-28T06:00:55+00:00April 28th, 2016|Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

IOM Weighs in on Social Determinants Training

If patients’ symptoms and conditions are the product of who they are, where they are from, and how they have lived, can better understanding those circumstances help providers serve those patients more effectively?
Increasingly the answer to that question has been yes, it can, and now, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the Institute of Medicine have proposed an approach to training caregivers on the social determinants of health. Their new publication, A Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health, notes that

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines social determinants of health as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.” These forces and systems include economic policies, development agendas, cultural and social norms, social policies, and political systems. Health inequities, “the unfair and avoidable differences in health between groups of people within countries and between countries” (WHO, 2015b), stem from the social determinants of health and result in stark differences in health and health outcomes.

SNAP has long maintained that the socio-economic challenges their patients face – all important social determinants of health – make serving their low-income communities more challenging and more complex than the patients served by the typical community hospital in Pennsylvania today.
The report’s framework addresses such issues as diversity and inclusion, the importance of a diverse workforce, community participation, health professions education, and more. To learn more about how understanding the social determinants of health might lead to better care and healthier populations, go here to see the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the Institute of Medicine publication A Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-03-15T06:00:32+00:00March 15th, 2016|Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Governor Proposes FY 2017 Medicaid Budget

On Tuesday, February 9, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf presented his proposed FY 2017 budget to the state legislature.
That budget proposal calls for changes in some current Medicaid spending, including reductions of some supplemental payments and the elimination of others, as well as changes in funding the state’s share of Medicaid and the rate at which the federal government will match Pennsylvania’s own spending on Medicaid in the coming year.
In addition, the budget calls for new and increased spending in selected areas within the purview of the state’s Department of Human Services and Health Department.
SNAP has prepared a detailed memo outlining the potential implications of the proposed FY 2017 budget for safety-net hospitals. The memo also addresses the complications posed by the state’s incomplete FY 2016 budget. Representatives of safety-net hospitals may request a copy of this memo by using the “contact us” link at the top of this screen.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-02-11T06:00:41+00:00February 11th, 2016|Pennsylvania proposed FY 2017 budget, Pennsylvania state budget issues, Proposed FY 2017 Pennsylvania state budget, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Feds OK Medicaid Money for Housing

The Obama administration has informed state Medicaid programs that they may use federal Medicaid money to help the chronically homeless obtain housing.
While a June bulletin to state Medicaid directors technically only clarified existing policy, it signaled states that the administration will be receptive to Medicaid waivers that propose using Medicaid funding to help the homeless obtain housing.
Increasingly, state Medicaid programs have been finding that helping the homeless with housing is a key to improving their physical and behavioral health and can offer later savings as the individuals who have received such assistance live more stable lives, especially as more homeless people qualify for Medicaid benefits in states that have expanded their Medicaid programs.
The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) has long identified homelessness and inadequate housing as challenges that urban safety-net hospitals face in the low-income communities they serve.
To learn more about why officials believe housing is an important part of addressing the health care needs of the homeless and how some programs attempt to provide such assistance, see this Stateline report.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-11-25T06:00:31+00:00November 25th, 2015|Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Study Looks at Social Determinants of Health

A new issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation looks at the social determinants of health and health outcomes.
The issue brief “Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity” reports that

Social determinants have a significant impact on health outcomes. Social determinants of health are “the structural determinants and conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” They include factors like socioeconomic status, education, the physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care (Figure 2). Based on a meta-analysis of nearly 50 studies, researchers found that social factors, including education, racial segregation, social supports, and poverty accounted for over a third of total deaths in the United States in a year. In the United States, the likelihood of premature death increases as income goes down. Similarly, lower education levels are directly correlated with lower income, higher likelihood of smoking, and shorter life expectancy. Children born to parents who have not completed high school are more likely to live in an environment that poses barriers to health. Their neighborhoods are more likely to be unsafe, have exposed garbage or litter, and have poor or dilapidated housing and vandalism. They also are less likely to have sidewalks, parks or playgrounds, recreation centers, or a library.

The issue brief also looks at different steps that are being pursued to address such challenges through the State Innovation Models Initiative (SIM), state Medicaid programs, community health centers, health insurers, local groups, and more.
The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) has long maintained that the patients it serves are fundamentally more challenging to treat than those served by the typical community hospital because of the very factors identified in this study.
To learn more, find the Kaiser Foundation issue brief here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-11-17T06:00:21+00:00November 17th, 2015|Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Socio-Economic Status Affects Health, Study Shows

A new study by California state public health officials has concluded that demographic factors have a major influence on individuals’ health.
Among the factors specifically cited in the study are education, employment status, gender identity, race and ethnicity, income, and sexual orientation.
In Portrait of Promise: The California Statewide Plan to Promote Health and Mental Health Equity, the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity identifies and describes the socio-economic factors that influence health status and proposes interventions for overcoming those challenges.
SNAP has long pointed to such challenges as one of the chief distinctions between Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals and other hospitals in the state.
See the California report here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-09-08T06:00:44+00:00September 8th, 2015|Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania, Uncategorized|Comments Off

SNAP Calls for HealthChoices Improvements

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has urged Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services to pursue transformative innovation in the state’s HealthChoices Medicaid managed care program.
In particular, SNAP has called on DHS to create regional health collaboratives consisting of both insurers and providers to work together to deliver better, more coordinated care to Pennsylvania’s Medicaid population.
SNAP also recommended that the state finance innovation by implementing a Delivery System Reform Incentive Payments program, better known as DSRIP, to fund innovation in the state’s Medicaid program.
SNAP’s suggestions came in response to a request for information issued by the state seeking recommendations for how to improve the HealthChoices program in anticipation of the state’s plan to rebid HealthChoices managed care contracts later this year.
See the state’s request for information here and find SNAP’s comment letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-06-29T06:00:03+00:00June 29th, 2015|HealthChoices PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAPShots

SNAPShots

Home / About Us / Advocacy / Why Join? / SNAPShots / Contact Us

Home / About Us / Advocacy / Why Join? / SNAPShots / Contact Us