The following is an update of selected state health policy developments in Pennsylvania for the week of July 19-23, 2021.  (Some of the language used below is taken directly from state documents.)

General Assembly

The Senate Health & Human Services Committee and Communications & Technology Committee held a joint hearing on Wednesday to examine contracts awarded by the Department of Health  through emergency procurements.  The hearing largely focused on the department’s recent announcement that it intends to enter into a year-long $34 million contract with Public Consulting Group (PCG) to conduct COVID-19 contact tracing.  PCG is being hired to replace the state’s former contact-tracing vendor, Insight Global, which received a multi-million contract last year through an emergency procurement but was fired in May for mishandling sensitive personal information.  Read Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam’s testimony here and watch a replay of the hearing here.

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced this week a $26 billion settlement with Cardinal, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Johnson & Johnson for their role in the opioid epidemic.  This agreement would resolve the claims of nearly 4,000 state and local governments across the country that have filed lawsuits against these companies.  States have 30 days to agree to the settlement and local governments have 150 days.  Shapiro has estimated that Pennsylvania will receive as much as $1 billion from the settlement.

Department of Health

Wolf administration officials announced proposed changes in state nursing home regulations that seek to improve the quality of care received by residents by increasing the minimum direct care hours by 1.4 hours each day.  The current skilled nursing facility regulations have not been updated since 1999.   The Department of Health has indicated that it intends for this to be the first of five proposals to update the regulations governing long-term-care facilities.  With this announcement the Department of Health submitted the first installment of the proposed nursing home regulations to the General Assembly, the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission, and the Legislative Reference Bureau.  The next step is for these proposed regulations to be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin by the end of July, which will start a 30-day public comment period.  Learn more from this Wolf administration news release about the newly proposed regulations and go here, to the web site of the Independent Regulatory Review Commission, to find the proposed regulations themselves.

Department of Human Services

DHS has updated its “Monthly Physical Health Managed Care Program Enrollment Report” with new data on the number of Pennsylvanians who participated in Medical Assistance managed care in April, May, and June.  The report breaks down Medicaid managed care enrollment by county, by racial and ethnic group, and by health plan.  Find the report here.

COVID-19:  By the Numbers

• The daily number of new COVID-19 cases rose considerably over the past week, with Tuesday’s total the highest one-day figure in more than one month.  Even these higher numbers are only between one-third and one-half of what they were at this time two months ago.
• The number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19 has risen 12 percent since the beginning of July and the number in hospital ICUs has risen a good deal in recent days.  The number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators continues to decline.
• 5.6 million Pennsylvanians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, but only 56,000 completed the full vaccination regimen in the past week – barely more than half the number of last week; another 823,000 Philadelphians are now fully vaccinated but only 10,000 reached that status in the past week.

Around the State

• The Philadelphia Department of Public Health now “…strongly recommends that everyone, including fully vaccinated people, wear masks in all public indoor places,” Philadelphia health officials announced in their latest update on the state of COVID-19 in the city.
• A long-sought psychiatric residential treatment facility in Philadelphia for kids with complex needs may close just a few months after it opened because the state has revoked its license.  The Philadelphia Inquirer explains why.
• Opioid problems, addictions, and deaths are rising in western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
• Will Pennsylvania public school students be required to wear masks when they return to the classroom in September?  In Pittsburgh it looks like they will; elsewhere in Allegheny County, some will and some will not; in Philadelphia they definitely will; in the Scranton School District they are still deciding; and in the Central Bucks School District masks will be optional.
• “Pennsylvania officials in Harrisburg are mulling pay increases, signing bonuses and student loan forgiveness for the state’s care workers who provide home and community based services – part of a plan to spend an additional $1.2 billion in federal funding for those services that allow seniors and people with disabilities to live independently,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which also reports on the proposed strategy the state has submitted to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
• City and State Pennsylvania, which describes itself as a “…multi-media news firm that dedicates its coverage to Pennsylvania’s state and local government, political and advocacy news,” has come out with a list of “The Pennsylvania Healthcare Power 100.”  See who made the cut here.
• About 1500 employees of more than a dozen Pennsylvania nursing homes will go on a one-day strike on July 27.  GoErie explains why.
• Worried about the recent increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases?  Experts in western Pennsylvania are not – at least not yet.  The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review shares their thoughts.
• The Justice Department has informed the Wolf administration that it will not investigate whether the state ordered nursing homes to accept residents after they had been treated in a hospital for COVID-19, which would have been a violation of federal law, according to the Associated Press.

Stakeholder Events

Special Pharmaceutical Benefits Program

July 29 at 10:00

This is a telephone meeting.

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only)

+1 412-648-8888,,785376728#   United States, Pittsburgh

(866) 588-4789,,785376728#   United States (Toll-free)

Phone Conference ID: 785 376 728#

Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board

August 6 at 9:00 a.m.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board will hold a virtual public meeting on Friday, August 6, 2021.  For information about the board’s mission, meeting materials, and how to participate virtually, see the meeting announcement in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Community Prevention Planning Committee

August 11-12 at 9:00 a.m.

The state-wide Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Community Prevention Planning Committee will hold public meetings on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, and Thursday, August 12, 2021 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  To see the agenda and find information about where the meeting will be held and how individuals can participate virtually, see the meeting announcement in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.