The number of uninsured children in Pennsylvania fell from 147,303 in 2013 to 139,000 in 2014, according to a new study released by the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
The decline was driven part by the expansion of the state’s Medicaid program, which was enabled by the federal Affordable Care Act. Pennsylvania’s Medicaid expansion began in early 2014.
Learn more about uninsured children in Pennsylvania in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.

Medicare’s value-based purchasing program may not be having much of an impact on the quality of care hospitals provide, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

According to a GAO summary of its report Hospital Value-Based Purchasing: Initial Results Show Modest Effects on Medicare Payments and No Apparent Change in Quality-of-Care Trends,

GAO’s analysis found no apparent shift in existing trends in hospitals’ performance on the quality measures included in the HVBP [note: hospital value-based purchasing] program during the program’s initial years.
The agency did note, however, that

…shifts in quality trends could emerge in the future as the HVBP program continues to evolve.

The study also evaluated how safety-net hospitals fare under the program.

GAO found that safety net hospitals, which provide a significant amount of care to the poor, consistently had lower median payment adjustments – that is, smaller bonuses or larger penalties – than hospitals overall in the program’s first three years. However, this gap narrowed over time.

For a closer look at the GAO study and what it means, see this Kaiser Health News report. Find the study itself here, on the GAO web site.
 

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has published a profile of Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas. His department and its Office of Medical Assistance Programs administers the state’s Medicaid program.
Find that profile here.