safety-net hospitals Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

SNAP Hospitals Benefit From New PA Health Care Funding

While a recent Pennsylvania law will result in all hospitals receiving supplemental funding to help with employee recruitment and retention, SNAP member hospitals will receive a little something extra.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo Pennsylvania Act 2, passed earlier this year, appropriates $225 million in federal money and the state has earmarked a portion of that money for hospitals based on how many beds they have. Hospitals that serve especially high proportions of Medicaid patients, however, will receive funding over and above the amount targeted to them based on bed count alone.

All Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania members – hospitals distinguished by their service to especially large numbers of low-income Pennsylvanians – will receive a portion of these additional resources.

All hospitals and other selected providers will share $100 million of the $225 million total; this portion will be distributed on a per-bed basis. Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, along with critical access hospitals and inpatient and residential behavioral health facilities, also will receive part of a separate, larger pool of $110 million.

Over the years, SNAP has consistently urged state officials to provide additional funding to Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals that care for especially high proportions of Medicaid and uninsured patients. In this situation, state officials did exactly that.

Learn more about the $225 million appropriation and how it will be distributed from this Wolf administration news release and this list of funding recipients, which includes all SNAP members.

jsteinbock2022-03-25T13:10:50+00:00March 25th, 2022|Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP Asks PA Delegation to Co-Sponsor, Support 340B Bill

SNAP has asked members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to co-sponsor and support bills (H.R. 3203 and S. 773) that would temporarily enable Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals and others already eligible for the 340B prescription drug discount program to remain eligible for the program despite short-term changes in their admissions patterns brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of the manner in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected hospital admissions, some hospitals that have been eligible to participate in the 340B program could lose that eligibility for what is, in effect, a one-year anomaly. The proposed bills would temporarily enable current 340B participants to retain their eligibility for the program until hospitals’ inpatient volume returns to normal and they can demonstrate whether they still meet the criteria to continue participating in the program.

340B has long been a vital tool through which Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals receive significant discounts on the prescription drugs their low-income patients need, enabling these hospitals and other eligible providers to stretch scarce resources in services to the communities that depend on them.

jsteinbock2021-06-15T17:52:15+00:00June 15th, 2021|340b, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP Asks PA Delegation for Help From COVID-19 Relief Bill

The next federal COVID-19 relief bill should include more resources for the Provider Relief Fund, SNAP has told members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo The bill also should include additional targeted funding for safety-net hospitals, help with staffing, an extension of the current moratorium on the Medicare sequestration, and forgiveness for safety-net hospitals for loans they received under the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program.

This was the message the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania conveyed last week in a letter to members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation. See that letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2021-02-05T17:20:29+00:00February 5th, 2021|Coronavirus, COVID-19, Federal Medicaid issues, Medicare|Comments Off

Safety-Net Hospitals Gird for Loss of Medicaid DSH Money

Safety-net hospitals and others will lose a significant portion of their Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) payments on November 22 unless Congress delays implementation of the cut in those payments that was mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

And hospitals that receive these payments are now preparing for the worst.

The Medicaid DSH cut was included in the 2010 health care reform law in anticipation of a great reduction in the number of uninsured people leaving hospitals providing much less uncompensated care and therefore not in need of as much DSH money. The law’s reach has not proven to be as great as anticipated, however, and two developments since the law’s passage have put a damper on the expected rise in the number of insured Americans: a court decision that made it optional for states to expand their Medicaid program and the repeal of the requirement that everyone purchase health insurance.

Four times Congress has voted to delay the Medicaid DSH cut because so many people remained uninsured. Now, however, the most recent delay in implementation of the cut, via a provision in the continuing resolution currently funding the federal government, expires on November 21, and hospitals – many of them already with razor-thin margins – are preparing for the worst: a major reduction of their federal Medicaid DSH money.

Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals would face potentially major harm if this cut were to be implemented, so last month SNAP asked members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to support a bipartisan movement in Congress to delay the Medicaid DSH cut for two years.

Learn more about the prospect of a major Medicaid DSH cut later this month, how it might affect safety-net hospitals – including the kinds of private safety-net hospitals represented by NASH – and what some hospitals are doing to prepare for the possibility in the Stateline article “Rural and Safety Net Hospitals Prepare for Cut in Federal Support.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-11-04T06:00:59+00:00November 4th, 2019|Federal Medicaid issues, Medicaid supplemental payments, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

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

Safety-Net Hospitals, Others Benefit From Changes in Medicare Readmissions Program

Safety-net hospitals are among the leading beneficiaries of changes implemented this year in Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program.

According to a new study, safety-net, academic, and rural hospitals have enjoyed improved performance under the program since Medicare began organizing hospitals into peer groups based on the proportion of low-income patients they serve rather than simply comparing individual hospital performance to that of all other hospitals.

While the current fiscal year is still under way, it appears that safety-net hospitals will enjoy a collective decline of $22 million in Medicare readmissions penalties while 44.1 percent of teaching hospitals and 43.7 percent of rural hospitals will face smaller penalties than last year.

Learn more about the readmissions reduction program and how changes in that program have significantly altered its outcomes in the JAMA Internal Medicine study “Association of Stratification by Dual Enrollment Status With Financial Penalties in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.”

PA Safety Net Admin2019-04-29T10:20:17+00:00April 29th, 2019|Medicare|Comments Off

Safety-Net Hospitals Struggle in Medicare Joint Replacement Model

Non-safety-net hospitals are outperforming safety-net hospitals in the Medicare’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model, which was introduced in 2016.

According to a new study published in Health Affairs,

…in comparison to non-safety-net hospitals, 42 percent fewer safety-net hospitals qualified for rewards based on their quality and spending performance (33 percent of safety-net hospitals qualified, compared to 57 percent of non-safety-net hospitals), and safety-net hospitals’ rewards per episode were 39 percent smaller ($456 compared to $743). Continuation of this performance trend could place safety-net hospitals at increased risk of penalties in future years.

What might be done to address this disparity? The study suggests that

Medicare and hospital strategies such as those that reward high-quality care for vulnerable patients could enable safety-net hospitals to compete effectively in CJR.

Learn more in the Health Affairs article Performance of Safety-Net Hospitals in Year 1 of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model.

PA Safety Net Admin2019-03-01T06:00:22+00:00March 1st, 2019|Medicare|Comments Off

Hospital Uncompensated Care Down

As was surely expected, reforms introduced through implementation of the Affordable Care Act have driven down uncompensated care costs for many hospitals.
How much?
A new study published by the Commonwealth Fund offers the following findings:

uncompensated care declines in expansion states are substantial relative to profit margins;
for every dollar of uncompensated care costs hospitals in expansion states had in 2013, the Affordable Care Act erased 41 cents by 2015; and
Medicaid expansion reduced uncompensated care burdens for safety-net hospitals that are not made whole by Medicaid disproportionate share payments (Medicaid DSH).

Learn more, including how the decline in uncompensated care costs affected different kinds of hospitals in different kinds of states, in the report “The Impact of the ACA’s Medicaid Expansion on Hospitals’ Uncompensated Care Burden and the Potential Effects of Repeal,” which can be found here, on the Commonwealth Fund’s web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-05-16T06:00:57+00:00May 16th, 2017|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Weighing the Impact of ACA Repeal

How might repeal of the Affordable Care Act affect the financial health of different kinds of hospitals?
The New York Times recently took a look at how the 2010 reform law’s repeal would affect two Pennsylvania health systems: the Temple University Health System, led by a heavily Medicaid-dependent safety-net hospital located in one of the poorest communities in the country; and Main Line Health, a non-profit organization with several hospitals all located in affluent communities.
See what the Times found here.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-01-10T06:00:03+00:00January 10th, 2017|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Feds Launch Medicare-Medicaid ACO Model

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has announced a new Medicare-Medicaid Accountable Care Organization Model that it says

…is focused on improving quality of care and reducing costs for Medicare-Medicaid enrollees. The MMACO Model builds on the Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program), in which groups of providers take on accountability for the Medicare costs and quality of care for Medicare patients. Through the Model, CMS will partner with interested states to offer new and existing Shared Savings Program ACOs the opportunity to take on accountability for the Medicaid costs for their assigned Medicare-Medicaid enrollees.

cms In this new model, the Innovation Center

… seeks to encourage participation from safety-net providers in Alternative Payment Models. Medicare-Medicaid ACOs that qualify as “Safety-Net ACOs” will be eligible to receive pre-payment of Medicare shared savings to support the ACO’s investment in care coordination infrastructure.

The Innovation Center envisions pursuing such undertakings with six states, which will be chosen on a competitive basis.
Learn more about the Medicare-Medicaid Accountable Care Organization model here, on the Innovation Center’s web site.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-12-22T14:27:49+00:00December 22nd, 2016|Uncategorized|Comments Off

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