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

SNAP Joins Letter Urging Preservation of Tobacco Funding

The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has joined 10 other organizations in urging Pennsylvania’s General Assembly to use 100 percent of Tobacco Settlement Fund monies for health-related services and programs in the coming fiscal year.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo For FY 2018-2019, Pennsylvania borrowed against future proceeds from the Tobacco Settlement Fund to help balance the state budget. Debt service payments will soon be due and the Wolf administration has proposed paying that debt service with proceeds from the state’s sales and use taxes. In a letter to state legislators, SNAP and the others endorse this aspect of the administration’s proposed budget FY 2019-2020 budget.

Tobacco fund proceeds are vital to Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals, helping to compensate them for some of the care they provide to uninsured and underinsured residents of the communities they serve. Funds used in this manner, moreover, are matched by the federal government, doubling their impact on communities in need.

See the letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-05-16T06:00:26+00:00May 16th, 2019|Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania proposed FY 2020 budget, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

SNAP Asks Congress for Help on Medicaid DSH

Prevent Medicaid DSH cuts: that is the message the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania conveyed to Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation this week.

In a message sent to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, SNAP asked members to sign onto a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her to delay Affordable Care Act-mandated cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share payments (Medicaid DSH) that are scheduled to take effect in October of this year.

If implemented, the cut would hurt 179 of Pennsylvania’s 213 hospitals, including all safety-net hospitals, and cost the state approximately $240 million in Medicaid DSH revenue in FY 2020 and $480 million a year in FYs 2021 through 2025.

See the letter requesting action on Medicaid DSH cuts here and SNAP’s message to Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation here.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-04-24T14:49:48+00:00April 24th, 2019|Affordable Care Act, DSH hospitals, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

CMS Guidance on MCO Payments is Good News for PA Hospitals

New guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on the use of directing additional Medicaid resources to hospitals through Medicaid managed care organizations is good news for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.
Such payments have been routed through the state’s Medicaid managed care plans for several years, but as the state and hospital industry continue negotiating renewal of the state’s hospital tax – its “Quality Care Assessment” – it was not entirely clear whether the federal government would permit continued use of this mechanism.
An early November bulletin from CMS, however, clarifies that this approach is still permissible, which is good news for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals and SNAP members hoping to benefit from the state’s hospital assessment.
Go here to see the CMS memo “Delivery System and Provider Payment Initiatives under Medicaid Managed Care Contracts.”

PA Safety Net Admin2017-11-16T14:19:15+00:00November 16th, 2017|HealthChoices, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

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

SNAPShots

SNAPShots

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

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