Change Atop PA’s Department of Human Services

Teresa Miller is out and Meg Snead will be in as Pennsylvania’s new Secretary of the Department of Human Services.

In separate news releases the Wolf administration announced that Miller, who has led DHS since 2015, “will be moving on to a new opportunity outside Pennsylvania” and leave her job at the end of April and that she will be replaced by Meg Snead, who currently serves as the governor’s Secretary of Policy and Planning.

Snead’s nomination is subject to confirmation by the state Senate.

The Secretary of the Department of Human Services is important to SNAP members and Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because the state’s Medicaid program is administered by that department’s Office of Medical Assistance Programs.

Learn more about Miller’s departure here and about Snead’s nomination here.

2021-03-25T06:00:37+00:00March 25th, 2021|Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off on Change Atop PA’s Department of Human Services

PA Health Law Project Newsletter

The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has published its August 2020 newsletter Health Law News.

Included in this month’s edition are articles about:

  • The Department of Human Services’ selection of new managed care plans to serve Pennsylvania Medicaid’s Community HealthChoices program.
  • The end of ensured continuity of long-term services and supports for participants in the Community HealthChoices program in northeastern Pennsylvania.
  • The availability of navigators to help connect people to COVID-19 testing and treatment.

Read about these subjects and more in the Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s August 2020 newsletter.

2020-08-05T06:00:27+00:00August 5th, 2020|HealthChoices, long-term care, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance|Comments Off on PA Health Law Project Newsletter

Wolf Administration Proposes New Human Services Initiatives for FY 2021

New human services efforts to support vulnerable populations are a major part of Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed $36.06 billion FY 2021 budget for Pennsylvania.

The proposed budget, presented to the state legislature earlier this week, includes the following new initiatives:

  • creating pathways to success in the workforce for low-income Pennsylvanians
  • increasing the minimum wage to $15
  • increasing Department of Human Services staffing to support licensing and oversight
  • supporting adults in long-term-care facilities
  • legal services for vulnerable populations
  • direct care worker comprehensive training
  • commitment to performance-based metrics, accountability, and transparency in services and licensing
  • supporting vulnerable populations through home- and community-based services and reducing waiting lists
  • prevention services to support at-risk families
  • improving food security while supporting agriculture

Go here to see DHS’s presentation of these initiatives.

In addition, the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has prepared a detailed memo describing the proposed FY 2021 budget’s implications for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals and the state’s Medicaid program.  For a copy of this memo, use the “contact us” link in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

DHS Secretary Describes Initiatives

In an op-ed piece in the Scranton Times-Tribune, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas has outlined his organization’s major achievements of 2015 and its plans for 2016.
ted dallasAmong them are the state’s expansion of its Medicaid program and its plans to establish new contracts with HealthChoices managed care organizations that seek to shift the program’s emphasis from volume of care to value and outcomes through greater use of accountable care organizations (ACOs), bundled payments, patient-centered medical homes, and other value-based initiatives.
Find Secretary Dallas’s commentary here.

2016-01-04T11:40:53+00:00January 4th, 2016|HealthChoices PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off on DHS Secretary Describes Initiatives

PA Puts New HealthChoices Contracts Up for Bid

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for organizations interested in serving the state’s Medicaid population through its HealthChoices Medicaid managed care program.
The HealthChoices program, introduced in 1997, currently serves nearly 2.5 million Pennsylvanians. Among them, 200,000 have enrolled in the program since the state’s Medicaid expansion began in January.
healthchoicesThe contracts will put a greater emphasis on value-based purchasing and will require participating insurers to provide at least 30 percent of their services in a value-based or outcomes-based manner within three years.  Among the tools managed care organizations are expected to employ to achieve this goal are accountable care organizations, bundled payments, and patient-centered homes.
With a projected value of about $17 billion, the RFP is expected to attract interest from national organizations that have not necessarily served Pennsylvania’s Medicaid population in the past.
To learn more about the state’s HealthChoices plans, see this news release from the Department of Human Services and this Philadelphia Inquirer article. Find the RFP itself here.

2015-09-23T06:00:50+00:00September 23rd, 2015|HealthChoices PA, Meetings and notices|Comments Off on PA Puts New HealthChoices Contracts Up for Bid

DHS Issues RFI for Vendors to Help Monitor Payments

Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS), which administers the state’s Medicaid program, is seeking information from vendors that offer data mining and predictive analytics that might help the state monitor Medicaid and other payments.
pa dhsDHS seeks to use such services to “…detect patterns of waste, fraud, and abuse in its programs on a prospective or retrospective basis.”
Among the challenges such vendors might address in their responses, as stated in the RFI, are:

  • Identifying claim review strategies that efficiently and proactively prevent or address potential errors (e.g., prepayment edit specifications or parameters).
    Providing mechanisms to investigate patterns that may indicate abuse of services by clients.
  • Producing innovative views of utilization or billing patterns that illuminate potential errors.
    Maximizing recoveries by identifying high volume or high cost services that are widely over utilized.
  • Identifying areas of potential errors (e.g., services which may be non-covered or not correctly coded) that poses the greatest risk or vulnerability.
    Establishing baseline data to enable DHS to dynamically recognize unusual trends, changes in utilization over time, or schemes to inappropriately maximize reimbursement. Adapting systems, rules, and algorithms on an ad hoc basis in order to be responsive to emerging trends, patterns, and issues as they are identified.
  • Clearly distinguishing which applications are standardized as part of the product package and which applications will need to be purchased as a system enhancement.
  • Establishing baseline data and recommendations to improve the client experience related to access to services and the quality of the services received.

The call for vendors is a request for information (RFI) and not a request for proposals (RFP) but it appears likely that the state will issue an RFP after it has had an opportunity to review the information submitted to it.
RFI submissions are due on November 9. See the RFI document here.

2015-09-17T06:00:51+00:00September 17th, 2015|Meetings and notices|Comments Off on DHS Issues RFI for Vendors to Help Monitor Payments

DHS Reorganizes

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS), which administers the state’s Medicaid program, has reorganized both the department as a whole and its Office of Medical Assistance Programs.
Pennsylvania_Bulletin_logoNew tables of organizations for both entities have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. Find them here.

2015-09-01T06:00:43+00:00September 1st, 2015|Pennsylvania Bulletin|Comments Off on DHS Reorganizes

PA Seeks to Modernize, Improve Medicaid Program Integrity

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) has announced new steps to enhance its program integrity efforts and reduce improper and fraudulent payments, including Medicaid payments.
The proposed new approach will rely heavily on automation, analytics, and technology. Major changes include:

  • pa dhsConsolidation of the Office of Program Integrity and Bureau of Program Integrity
  • Issuing a request for information for program integrity data analysis of provider payments
  • Implementation of a customer portal for third-party liability
  • Implementation of “identity proofing” of program recipients
  • Automating provider enrollment
  • Eliminating manual updating of milestone changes

In the state’s 2015 fiscal year it prevented nearly $600 million in improper payments, 74 percent of which were potential provider payments.
For a closer look at the state’s plans, see this DHS news release.

2015-08-07T06:00:01+00:00August 7th, 2015|Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off on PA Seeks to Modernize, Improve Medicaid Program Integrity

PA Moves to Streamline Medicaid Provider Enrollment

In response to the challenges the state has encountered processing Medicaid provider enrollment applications, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) has unveiled what it believes will be an improved approach to tackling this problem.
The improvements include electronic enrollment, standardization of policies and procedures, and additional provider enrollment staffing.
At the heart of the backlog are Affordable Care Act requirements.
Go here to see a message from DHS acting secretary Theodore Dallas on this subject.

2015-04-23T06:00:08+00:00April 23rd, 2015|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off on PA Moves to Streamline Medicaid Provider Enrollment

Introducing…The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare is no more.
The state executive branch agency whose Office of Medical Assistance Programs has overseen Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program since its inception has officially been renamed the Department of Human Services.
The legislation requiring the name change takes effect in November and the department will phase-in its new name over time.
Read the press release from the governor’s office announcing the name change here.

2014-09-25T06:00:40+00:00September 25th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Introducing…The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services
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