SNAPShots
SNAPShotsArchive for February 2020
PA Seeks to Connect Medicaid Beneficiaries With Job
Pennsylvania has launched a new program that seeks to help Medicaid beneficiaries who would like to find jobs. The program, called Medicaid Work Supports, is a joint project of the state’s Department of Human Services and Department of Labor & Industry. As described in The Impact, DHS’s weekly newsletter: The Medicaid Work Supports initiative will create a more direct and systematic introduction to employment and training resources available to Pennsylvanians. When people are deemed eligible and enroll in a new Medicaid health plan, they will be asked if they are interested in help finding a job, training programs, and opportunities to get a high school diploma or GED. The referral system will help identify this population for the first time … Read More
Verma Responds to MFAR Critics
CMS administrator Seema Verma addresses criticism of her agency’s proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation in a new commentary on the CMS blog. Critics of the so-called MFAR regulation have argued that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed regulation, if adopted, will lead to a reduction of federal funding for state Medicaid programs, jeopardize access to care and the financial health of providers by leading to a reduction of supplemental payments to high-volume Medicaid providers, and possibly even force some states to raise taxes to compensate for the loss of federal funding. In her commentary Verma rebuts these criticisms, maintaining that the proposed regulation seeks to ensure that states pay their fair share of their Medicaid partnership with the … Read More
340B Déjà Vu: CMS Seeks to Collect Data From Hospitals
For the second time in four months, the federal government has announced its intention to collect data from hospitals and other providers on what they pay for the prescription drugs they purchase through the section 340B prescription drug discount program. Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a notice announcing its intention to collect this data. Previously, health care interests sued CMS when it attempted in 2018 to reduce payments to providers for drugs purchased through the 340B program and the court ruled against CMS, maintaining that the agency did not have enough data on hospitals’ acquisition costs for the drugs to justify the proposed payment reduction. The newly announced data collection effort seeks to rectify that … Read More
Verma Responds to Medicaid Block Grant Critics
Last week the Trump administration unveiled its Healthy Adult Opportunity program, a new, optional, already-controversial approach to structuring state Medicaid programs. Ever since, the program – essentially, Medicaid block grants – has been the subject of criticism from many public officials and health care stakeholders. Now, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma, who oversaw the development of Healthy Adult Opportunity, has responded to the program’s critics in an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post. See her commentary “No, the Trump administration is not cutting Medicaid.”
Health Care Groups Rebel Against Proposed Federal Regulation, Program
The administration’s proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation and its guidance encouraging states to implement Medicaid block grants have incurred widespread opposition among a variety of health care groups. The Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation would, if adopted, impose new restrictions on how states raise their share of their Medicaid spending, potentially limiting state participation in Medicaid or necessitating tax increases to fill the funding gap if long-accepted financing tools are no longer available to them. The Medicaid block grant guidance offers states a blueprint for curtailing their Medicaid costs by imposing limits on that spending that they negotiate with the federal government. Numerous health care groups have expressed reservations or direct opposition to one or both of the proposals. Among them: … Read More
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 … Read More
Pennsylvania Health Law Project Newsletter
The Pennsylvania Health Law Project has published its January 2020 newsletter. Included in this month’s edition are articles about: the transition to a new Medicaid prescription drug list (PDL); the rollout of a new electronic visit verification system for Medicaid-paid home health services; and progress in the state’s effort to introduce major changes in its Medical Assistance transportation program (MATP). Read about these subjects and more in the Pennsylvania Health Law Project’s January 2020 newsletter.
PA Says No to Medicaid Block Grants
Pennsylvania is not interested in pursuing the new Medicaid block grants being offered by the administration, leading state officials said last week. In a news release, Governor Wolf said that I expanded Medicaid in Pennsylvania to allow for more than 700,000 people to have reliable health care access. Pennsylvania will not go backwards. I will not risk jeopardizing our progress by going along with another short-sighted, insensitive plan to cut Medicaid… Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller, who oversees the Pennsylvania Medicaid program that serves approximately 2.8 million people, echoed this sentiment: Changing any part of Medicaid to a block grant structure is the federal government permitting states to grow health inequities experienced by the poorest Americans. This cruel … Read More
SNAP Asks Feds to Withdraw Medicaid Financing Regulation
CMS should withdraw its proposed Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation, SNAP has suggested in a formal comment letter to the federal agency in response to a new regulation it proposed in November. According to the comment letter SNAP submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, SNAP is concerned that this proposed regulation would inappropriately restrict the state’s ability to finance the non-federal share of the Medicaid program, would impose significant additional regulatory burdens – the cost of which would far outstrip their benefit – would inappropriately introduce subjectivity into the application of previously clear and objective regulatory standards, and is beyond the scope of the statutory authority granted to CMS. Learn more about SNAP’s views on the proposed Medicaid … Read More