PA Health Policy Update for February 7
The following is an update of selected state health policy developments in Pennsylvania February 3 – 7. (Some of the language used below is taken directly from state documents).
Fiscal Year 2025-26 Budget Proposal 
Governor Shapiro delivered his third annual budget address before the General Assembly this week. In total, the proposed FY 2025-26 budget spends $51.5 billion, a $3.6 billion or 7.5 percent increase over the current fiscal year. The governor’s speech included a mixture of accomplishments from his administration’s first two years in office and aspirational policy goals focused on economic competitiveness, education and workforce development, energy infrastructure, public safety, and health care access and affordability. The budget does not propose any broad-based tax increases, but it does rely on a significant amount of fund transfers and new revenue sources, including the elimination of the Delaware tax loophole, the legalization of recreational marijuana, and the taxing of skill games.
The following are budget-related documents released by the budget office, including a proposed line item appropriation spreadsheet.
- Text of the Governor’s FY 2025 Budget Address
- Governor’s FY 2026 “Budget-In-Brief”
- Governor’s FY 2025 Executive Budget
- FY 2026 Proposed Line Item Appropriation(s)
Governor Shapiro
Governor Shapiro signed Senate Bill 184, now known as Act 2 of 2025, into law this week following its passage in the Senate. Act 2 enables team physicians traveling internationally with their club or national team to treat their team players on site during games without requiring a Pennsylvania medical license.
General Assembly
The state House of Representatives and Senate convened for voting session in Harrisburg this week. The following is an overview of selected health care-related legislative activity that occurred.
- The House Aging & Older Adult Services Committee held an informational meeting on Monday, February 3 on the Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs). A recording of the hearing is viewable here.
- The Human Services Committee held an informational hearing on Wednesday, February 5 on treatment and support for traumatic brain injuries. A recording of the hearing is viewable here.
- The House Health Committee met on Wednesday, February 5, a recording of which is viewable here, and favorably reported the following bills from committee.
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- House Bill 60, which aligns Pennsylvania with federal policies to permit the electronic transfer of certain prescribed controlled substances between pharmacies.
- House Bill 157, which establishes a rural health care grant program to provide financial incentives to health care providers to practice in rural areas.
- House Bill 409, which requires health care providers to inform patients that they will be receiving their test results in their electronic health record, or that they can request to receive the results in the mail.
Department of Health
The Department of Health (DOH) has updated its Event Reporting System (ERS) with new flu and RSV reporting enhancements to streamline the reporting of both event types. This is similar to the enhancements made during COVID-19 in March 2021. As a reminder, all flu and RSV events are to be reported to ERS within 24 hours of the facility becoming aware of the diagnosis. Find additional information on the enhancement in this Quick Start Guide (opens as a Word document).
Insurance Department
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) has announced it is conducting a medical professional liability insurance study to determine whether sufficient capacity exists to increase the basic coverage limits of insurance required by the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act. Find additional information and details on how to provide written comments to PID in this Pennsylvania Bulletin notice.
Revenue Collection Update
The Department of Revenue has announced Pennsylvania collected $3.9 billion in General Fund revenue in January, which was $51.3 million, or 1.3 percent, less than anticipated. Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $24.1 billion, which is $148.3 million, or 0.6 percent, below estimate.
Around the State 
- The Philadelphia Inquirer has written an article about the bankruptcy proceedings of Crozer Health’s parent company, Prospect Medical Holding, and the judge’s recent approval of the appointment of a temporary manager, FTI Consulting, for 30 days.
- An article published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star highlighted Governor Shapiro’s FY 2025-26 budget proposal and the response by Republican leaders in the General Assembly.
- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an article about comments made by Governor’s Shapiro in his budget address about the need to remove private equity money from health care and implement a more stringent regulatory review process.
- WHYY published an article about the health care issues receiving attention at the start of the 2025-2026 legislative session and in Governor Shapiro’s budget address.
Stakeholder Meetings
Patient Safety Authority – February 18
The Patient Safety Authority will hold a meeting of the Authority’s board on Tuesday, February 18 at 1:00 p.m. The meeting will be held virtually and is open to the public. Find additional details and information on how to participate in this Pennsylvania Bulletin notice.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has nominated Alison Beam to be Secretary of the state’s Department of Health.
Governor Wolf also has appointed Dr. Wendy Braund to be the state’s Interim Acting Physician General. Dr. Levine currently serves in that capacity as well. Dr. Braund, currently the COVID-19 response director in the state’s Department of Health, earned a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins and an M.D. from the Penn State College of Medicine.
Over the weekend, House Speaker Michael Turzai changed the House of Representatives’ session schedule to hold a non-voting session day today and a voting session day tomorrow in an effort to enable Republicans to move forward with relief efforts for businesses related to the COVID-19 crisis. There has been speculation that if a quorum is present the Speaker may seek to suspend temporary House rules permitting remote voting to ease the passage of Republican-sponsored relief measures for businesses affected by limits on their ability to operate during the COVID-19 emergency. The House also has canceled its session for Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
Children’s Health Insurance Program
Department of Health and Human Services
The FDA has released guidance on its 
MACPAC has written to CMS administrator Seema Verma to express its concern that the manner in which CMS has chosen to distribute $30 billion of the $100 billion designated in the CARES Act for hospitals and health care providers “…does not account for the real and pressing concerns of safety-net providers that are on the frontlines of serving the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable people…” MACPAC also asks Ms. Verma to “…ensure that safety-net providers, including hospitals considered deemed disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) for the purpose of Medicaid payment…children’s hospitals, and other providers serving Medicaid and other low-income patients have access to federal funds made available through the CARES Act without delay.” See the MACPAC letter 
Until Monday, the state needed to send any samples it wanted tested to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which meant a two- to three-day wait for results. State turnaround will be 24 hours.
The report, prepared by the organization Catalyst for Payment Reform, seeks to
