Yesterday Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett unveiled his proposed FY 2015 budget – a mixed bag for the state’s safety-net hospitals.
The budget proposes increased spending for Medicaid services, compensates for the loss of federal Medicaid funding expected when the state’s Medicaid matching rate declines later this year, and proposes new funding to help develop clinics and encourage medical professionals to work in rural and underserved parts of Pennsylvania.
On the other hand, the budget proposes slight reductions in selected supplemental payments that are important to safety-net hospitals, counts on significant savings derived through the Healthy Pennsylvania program that has not yet been approved by the federal government, and assumes that the state will prevail in its appeal of an arbitration ruling that would severely reduce the funding the state uses to make tobacco uncompensated care payments to qualified hospitals.
SNAP has prepared a detailed summary of the budget proposal that addresses the aspects of the budget that are most important to safety-net hospitals.  Interested parties may request a copy by hitting the “contact us” link in the upper right-hand corner of this screen.