With the inauguration of a new governor and the start of a new legislative session, the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) has prepared a series of four papers for leaders of the new Wolf administration and legislative and committee leaders and staff.
The third of those four papers presents eight principles SNAP believes state officials should follow if they choose to abandon the Healthy Pennsylvania model of Medicaid expansion in favor of a more traditional approach to expanding the state’s Medicaid expansion.
Those eight principles are:

• communicate changes effectively to the provider community
• ensure beneficiaries’ continuity of coverage and continuity of care
• ensure the adequacy of provider networks
• simplify beneficiary and provider enrollment
• preserve vital supplemental payments to safety-net hospitals
• continue pursuing Medical Assistance payment reforms
• ensure the long-term financing of Medical Assistance in response to current and future threats to that financing
• invest in innovative, population-based infrastructure and programmatic improvements

The first paper, “What is SNAP?”, was an introduction to the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania:  what safety-net hospitals are, where they are located, whom they serve, and how they differ from other acute-care hospitals in the state.
The second paper, “The Challenges Pennsylvania Safety-Net Hospitals Face,” describes the special role safety-net hospitals play in serving low-income and medically vulnerable Pennsylvanians and the emerging challenges they face in fulfilling this vital role.
Find all three SNAP papers here.