While a recent Pennsylvania law will result in all hospitals receiving supplemental funding to help with employee recruitment and retention, SNAP member hospitals will receive a little something extra.

Pennsylvania Act 2, passed earlier this year, appropriates $225 million in federal money and the state has earmarked a portion of that money for hospitals based on how many beds they have.  Hospitals that serve especially high proportions of Medicaid patients, however, will receive funding over and above the amount targeted to them based on bed count alone.

All Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania members – hospitals distinguished by their service to especially large numbers of low-income Pennsylvanians – will receive a portion of these additional resources.

All hospitals and other selected providers will share $100 million of the $225 million total; this portion will be distributed on a per-bed basis.  Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, along with critical access hospitals and inpatient and residential behavioral health facilities, also will receive part of a separate, larger pool of $110 million.

Over the years, SNAP has consistently urged state officials to provide additional funding to Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals that care for especially high proportions of Medicaid and uninsured patients.  In this situation, state officials did exactly that.

Learn more about the $225 million appropriation and how it will be distributed from this Wolf administration news release and this list of funding recipients, which includes all SNAP members.