Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania Archives - Page 6 of 12

SNAP Writes to House Ways and Means Committee About Medicaid DSH Audits

The federal government should give states the option of monitoring Medicaid disproportionate share payments (Medicaid DSH) to hospitals through prospective DSH limit calculations rather than through retroactive DSH audits.

SNAP recently shared this view with the House Ways and Means Committee’s Health Subcommittee in response to that subcommittee’s request for suggestions from stakeholders on ways to improve the delivery of Medicare services and eliminate statutory and regulatory obstacles to more effective care delivery.

According to SNAP, retroactive DSH audits are cumbersome, burdensome, and expensive, give rise to many disputes and appeals, and in the end yield results very similar to much simpler prospective DSH limit calculations performed by the very state governments that distribute Medicaid DSH funds.

See SNAP’s comments to the Ways and Means Committee here.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-08-29T17:00:02+00:00August 29th, 2017|Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania, Uncategorized|Comments Off

SNAP Joins Others in Letter to PA Senators

SNAP was among 27 Pennsylvania health care organizations to send a joint letter to senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey pointing out aspects of the House-passed American Health Care Act that could jeopardize access to care for medically vulnerable Pennsylvanians.
Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo Among the issues addressed in the letter are how the House-passed proposal would detract from the role of Medicaid in fighting the state’s opioid crisis; the proposed reduction in tax credits to help purchase health insurance; the challenge posed by a per capita approach to Medicaid financing; the potential loss of health care jobs; the likelihood of large numbers of Pennsylvanians losing their health insurance and state Medicaid costs rising significantly; and the erosion of consumer protections.
See the complete letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-06-13T06:00:29+00:00June 13th, 2017|American Health Care Act, Federal Medicaid issues, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP, Other Groups Caution PA Delegation About Health Reform Bill

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has joined 13 other groups in writing to members of the state’s congressional delegation to warn about shortcomings in the American Health Care Act, health care reform legislation currently being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo The letter warns that the American Health Care Act would “…dramatically reduce Medicaid coverage and strain resources for this critical program.”

Read that letter here, on SNAP’s web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-05-03T06:00:03+00:00May 3rd, 2017|American Health Care Act, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

Governor Proposes FY 2018 Budget

On Tuesday Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf unveiled his proposed FY 2018 budget to the state’s General Assembly.
This budget proposal includes a number of provisions with potential implications for Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals.
The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has prepared a detailed review of those provisions. Officials of safety-net hospitals who would like to receive a copy of this memo may request one by using the “contact us” link on the upper right-hand corner of this screen.
Find a news release from the governor’s office that outlines the proposed budget here and go here (scroll to the bottom of the screen) for links to budget overviews, the entire budget itself, the Wolf administration’s presentation on its plan to consolidate Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, Department of Health, Department of Aging, and Department of Drug and Alcohol Services into a single new Department of Health and Human Services, and other related materials.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-02-10T06:00:00+00:00February 10th, 2017|Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Pennsylvania Medical Assistance, Pennsylvania proposed FY 2018 budget|Comments Off

SNAP Comments on Proposed Medicaid DSH Regulation

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has written to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to object to how the agency proposes changing its methodology for calculating eligible hospitals’ Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) payments.
In particular, SNAP opposes the manner in which CMS would treat payments from Medicare and third-party payers made on behalf of Medicaid-eligible individuals.
In SNAP’s view, the letter notes,

…the hospital-specific DSH limit has come to penalize the very hospitals that Medicaid DSH payments were designed to support.

The SNAP letter explains that

What concerns SNAP at this time is CMS’s apparent decision to rationalize and codify in regulations a narrower interpretation of the Medicaid DSH limit than what Congress described in section 1923(g) of the Social Security Act.

Read SNAP’s complete letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-15T06:00:48+00:00September 15th, 2016|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP Comments on Proposed Medicaid Observation Care Payment

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has written to the state’s Department of Human Services about DHS’s proposal to establish a payment policy for hospital observation services covered by the state’s Medicaid fee-for-service program.
While SNAP has long supported the concept of a Medicaid fee-for-service rate for observation services and welcomes DHS’s decision to create such a rate and associated policies, it expressed a number of concerns about DHS’s proposal, including about:

the proposed observation rate
the classification of observation care as an outpatient service
the manner in which the state proposes financing observation care
program integrity issues

To learn more about SNAP’s concerns, see its entire comment letter to DHS here, on the SNAP web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-06-20T06:00:37+00:00June 20th, 2016|Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania Medicaid laws and regulations, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

SNAP Comments on Balance Billing Proposal

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has submitted comments to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department addressing that department’s proposed Balance Billing Protection Act.
While supporting the concept of addressing the problem of surprise balance billing for insurance-covered medical services, SNAP encouraged the Insurance Department to consider the potential market-influenced conditions that may be leading to balance billing; to foster greater transparency and better communication between consumers, insurers, and providers; to avoid any methodology for resolving reimbursement disputes that favors insurers over providers; and to require hospitals to participate in reimbursement dispute resolution only when hospitals are part of that dispute and not when they are only the site at which the disputed services were delivered.
SNAP also encouraged the Insurance Department to involve the state’s Department of Health in addressing this issue; to seek greater public input; and to look to balance billing efforts elsewhere for guidance.
Find the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s proposed Balance Billing Protection Act here and read SNAP’s comments on that proposal here.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-03-01T11:06:30+00:00March 1st, 2016|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Hospitals, Especially Safety-Net Hospitals, Struggle With Heart Failure Readmissions

For all the emphasis on reducing readmissions to hospitals, providers continue to struggle to prevent readmissions of patients suffering heart failure.
Or so concludes a new study published in the Journal of Cardiac Failure.
According to the study, there has been only a slight reduction in readmissions rates for heart failure patients over the past four years.
In addition, Fierce Healthcare reports that

…2014 research revealed that safety-net hospitals and those with largely low-income patient populations are at particular risk for heart failure readmissions; patients from lower-income neighborhoods, researchers found, were nearly 17 percent more likely to be readmitted within six months of discharge.

This finding supports the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania’s long-time contention that the distinct challenges Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals face in serving their especially low-income, medically challenged communities speak to the need for public policy that reflects those special challenges.
To learn more about this issue, see this Fierce Healthcare report.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-10-02T06:00:12+00:00October 2nd, 2015|Medicare, Uncategorized|Comments Off

State Shares Preliminary Thoughts on HealthChoices Procurement

In anticipation of releasing a request for proposals later this year seeking health insurers interested in participating in Pennsylvania’s HealthChoices program for Medicaid beneficiaries, the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS) issued a request for information (RFI) in late May seeking input from stakeholders and interested parties on what the state might do through its next generation of HealthChoices contracts to improve the program and its delivery of care.
Now that the deadline for submitting comments has passed, DHS has released a new document that shares the comments offered most frequently by those who responded to the RFI along with brief descriptions of some of the changes the department is considering when it solicits bids for HealthChoices managed care plans later this year.
Find the original May RFI here, SNAP’s response to that RFI here, and the recent DHS follow-up document here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-07-02T06:00:19+00:00July 2nd, 2015|HealthChoices PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy|Comments Off

SNAP Calls for HealthChoices Improvements

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has urged Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services to pursue transformative innovation in the state’s HealthChoices Medicaid managed care program.
In particular, SNAP has called on DHS to create regional health collaboratives consisting of both insurers and providers to work together to deliver better, more coordinated care to Pennsylvania’s Medicaid population.
SNAP also recommended that the state finance innovation by implementing a Delivery System Reform Incentive Payments program, better known as DSRIP, to fund innovation in the state’s Medicaid program.
SNAP’s suggestions came in response to a request for information issued by the state seeking recommendations for how to improve the HealthChoices program in anticipation of the state’s plan to rebid HealthChoices managed care contracts later this year.
See the state’s request for information here and find SNAP’s comment letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-06-29T06:00:03+00:00June 29th, 2015|HealthChoices PA, Pennsylvania Medicaid policy, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAPShots

SNAPShots

Home / About Us / Advocacy / Why Join? / SNAPShots / Contact Us

Home / About Us / Advocacy / Why Join? / SNAPShots / Contact Us