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“Medicaid Works,” Foundation Declares

Medicaid improves access to care and saves lives and deserves to be expanded in the manner envisioned in the Affordable Care Act, according to a new blog entry on the web site of the health care-focused Commonwealth Fund.
According to the blog commentary, Medicaid “fulfills the two main purposes of health insurance – ensuring access to needed care and providing adequate financial protection from burdensome medical expenses.”  It also cites research that “confirms that expanding Medicaid not only improves access to care and financial protection of vulnerable individuals and families, but actually saves lives.”
In addition, the blog suggests that Medicaid recipients have only slightly greater cost-related access-to-care problems than individuals with private insurance.
The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) and the state’s private safety-net hospitals have eagerly anticipated the expansion of Medicaid eligibility mandated by the Affordable Care Act.  In the wake of the Supreme Court decision ruling the expansion mandate unconstitutional, these safety-net hospitals now await for Governor Corbett’s decision on whether Pennsylvania will move ahead with that Medicaid expansion.
The title of this commentary is “Medicaid Works:  Public Program Continues to Provide Access to Care and Financial Protection for Society’s Most Vulnerable,” and it can be found here, on the Commonwealth Fund’s web site.

2012-08-29T06:00:13+00:00August 29th, 2012|Health care reform, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania, Uncategorized|Comments Off on “Medicaid Works,” Foundation Declares
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One-Third of PA Docs Reject Medicaid Patients

Doctor listening to patientA study published in the journal Health Affairs found that 32 percent of office-based physicians in Pennsylvania do not accept new Medicaid patients.
This is slightly higher than the nation-wide rate of 30.9 percent of physicians who will not accept new Medicaid patients.
Read more about the study in this Central Penn Business Journal article or find the study itself here, on the Health Affairs web site.

2012-08-22T06:00:36+00:00August 22nd, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on One-Third of PA Docs Reject Medicaid Patients
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DPW Updates Dependence Treatment Procedures

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has issued a new Medical Assistance Bulletin updating its procedures for seeking prior authorization for opiate dependence treatment.
The new bulletin, which can be found here, applies to all licensed pharmacies and prescribers enrolled in the state’s Medical Assistance program that provide services through the Medical Assistance fee-for-service program.
An update of the Medical Assistance handbook for prior authorization of these services can be found hereBookshelf with law books.
The new policy takes effect on September 10.

2012-08-10T06:00:06+00:00August 10th, 2012|Meetings and notices, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Uncategorized|Comments Off on DPW Updates Dependence Treatment Procedures
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PHC4 to Hold Meeting

The Payment Data Advisory Group of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) will meet on Wednesday, August 8 in Harrisburg.
The meeting will be held at the PHC4 office at 225 Market Street, Suite 400.  It begins at 10:30 a.m.
The public is welcome to attend.

2012-08-06T06:00:14+00:00August 6th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on PHC4 to Hold Meeting
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Are Readmission Penalties Bad Medicine for Medicare Patients?

As the federal government prepares to penalize hospitals with high readmission rates, new research suggests that appropriate readmissions may actually result in better care for the nation’s seniors.

According to new research, some hospitals that have high readmissions rates for the medical conditions that Medicare tracks – heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia – also have higher survival rates among patients with those conditions.

Such findings, while preliminary, call into question the manner in which Medicare intends to adjust future payments to hospitals based on their readmission rates in the value-based purchasing program it will introduce in October of this year.

This issue is of particular concern to Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals, which care for many low-income and dually eligible seniors who have had sporadic contact with the health care system throughout their lives and often present multiple medical challenges that require more than one hospitalization to address.

Read more about these new findings and their implications in this Kaiser Health News reportHospital.

 

2012-07-27T06:00:16+00:00July 27th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Are Readmission Penalties Bad Medicine for Medicare Patients?
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New Medicare Program Could Hurt PA’s Safety-Net Hospitals

A new federal initiative will use patient satisfaction to help determine Medicare payments to hospitals.

Under the new value-based purchasing program it will launch in October, Medicare will use the results of patient responses to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey (HCAHPS) as a factor in determining its payments to hospitals.

As reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, not everyone believes there is a tangible link between patient satisfaction and the quality of care a hospital provides – and not everyone believes the HCAHPS survey accurately measures either.

In addition, a recent article in the Archives of Internal Medicine reported that safety-net hospitals generally receive lower scores on the HCAHPS survey than other providers – a potentially major concern for Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals.

Read more about this controversial program in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reportDoctor listening to patient.

2012-07-24T06:00:56+00:00July 24th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on New Medicare Program Could Hurt PA’s Safety-Net Hospitals
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Safety-Net Hospitals Could Lose Ground Under New Medicare Payment Plan

The value-based purchasing program that Medicare plans to unroll in October could result in reduced payments to the nation’s safety-net hospitals.
A report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that safety-net hospitals receive lower scores in measures that Medicare will use as part of its new value-based purchasing program.  Those scores are based on data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey.
As a result of those lower scores, the article “Patient Experience in Safety-Net Hospitals:  Implications for Improving Care and Value-Based Purchasing” concluded that safety-net hospitals could receive lower Medicare payments that could affect their financial health.
Read a Kaiser Health News on the new study here and the Archives of Internal Medicine report itself hereHospital building.

2012-07-18T10:32:35+00:00July 18th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Safety-Net Hospitals Could Lose Ground Under New Medicare Payment Plan
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Suit Seeking Resuscitation of AdultBasic Advances

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court has ruled that a lawsuit that seeks restoration of the state’s AdultBasic program may proceed.
The program, which served 41,000 low-income working adults who qualified neither for Medicare nor Medicaid, expired in 2011 and the resources previously expended on it,  from the state’s proceeds from the national tobacco settlement, were directed elsewhere.
Read more about the court case and the court’s rationale for allowing the suit to continue in this Legal Intelligencer article published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

2012-07-09T10:58:07+00:00July 9th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Suit Seeking Resuscitation of AdultBasic Advances
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Supreme Court Decision Has Huge Medicaid Implications

When the Supreme Court rules on the challenge to the Affordable Care Act, its decision will have enormous implications for states, low-income and uninsured people, and health care providers.
Among the many features of the health care reform act on which the Supreme Court will rule is the single biggest expansion of eligibility since Medicaid was introduced in the mid-1960s.
As they await the court’s decision, many states already are laying the groundwork for the addition of between 15 million and 20 million people to the nation’s Medicaid rolls.
Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals have a considerable stake in the court’s decision because the planned Medicaid expansion could add as many as a half-million people to the state’s Medical Assistance rolls.
The New York Times has taken a closer look at the stakes in the court’s upcoming decision.  Read that Times article here.

2012-06-18T10:11:29+00:00June 18th, 2012|Health care reform, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Supreme Court Decision Has Huge Medicaid Implications
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The Language of Medicaid

Enhanced medical homes.  Global bundling.  Risk-based managed care.
The list goes on.
Current efforts to find new, better, and more economical ways to serve the Medicaid population have given rise to a new language:   the language of Medicaid in the 21st century.  Some of the terms used in today’s policy discussions are old, some are new, and some are not nearly as self-explanatory as they might seem.
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has compiled a glossary of these terms – a useful tool in an environment in which the federal government and state governments are constantly producing proposals for new ways to address enduring challenges.  Find the Kaiser Medicaid glossary hereGroup of healthcare workers.

2012-06-05T06:00:35+00:00June 5th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The Language of Medicaid
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Home / About Us / Advocacy / Why Join? / SNAPShots / Contact Us

  • P: (717) 234-6970

  • 2020 Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

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