June 26th, 2009

The PA Dept. of Public Welfare’s Medical Assistance Advisory Committee met yesterday and discussed a variety of issues.

First up was a discussion of the state’s Pay-For-Performance (P4P) initiative, enacted in 2005.  P4P changed Medical Assistance reimbursement practices to physicians and health care facilities to determine reimbursement rates based on their patient outcomes, rather than the quantity of patients they saw.  The goal has been to incentivize physicians and hospitals to keep patients healthy, rather than move patients through as quickly as possible.

There’s been talk of dismantlying P4P– but at the meeting, this was not brought up directly.

Kevin Casey, the Deputy Secretary of the Office of Developmental Programs, spoke about about issues in dealing with mentally retarded adults, whose parents can no longer take care of them.  He discussed the lack of any real, current solutions to the issue. 

Peter Adams, Deputy Commissioner for the state Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), then spoke about the proposed CHIPRA State Plan Amendment, explaining the reasoning behind the proposed changes.

The Deputy Secretary of Medical Assistance, Mike Nardone, then spoke about the overall state of the DPW.  He said that Gov. Rendell’s proposed personal income tax increase is needed for the DPW. 

Joan Erney, Dep. Sec. of the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said that SB 850’s cuts to mental health programs would be devastating to the dept’s programs.