NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF
PUBLIC WELFARE
Additional Class of Payments to Qualifying Acute Care General Hospitals for Obstetrical Services
[36 Pa.B. 8017]
[Saturday, December 30, 2006]The purpose of this notice is to announce that effective December 31, 2006, the Department of Public Welfare (Department) intends to establish an additional class of disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments for acute care general hospitals enrolled in the Medical Assistance (MA) Program that provide a high volume of MA births to ensure the continued access to obstetrical services for MA patients.
The Department intends to consider an acute care general hospital eligible for this additional class of DSH payment, if the acute care general hospital meets all of the following criteria, based on the Fiscal Year 2003-04 MA Cost Report:
1. The hospital's ratio of MA nursery days to total nursery days is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile of the ratio of MA nursery days to total hospital nursery days provided by all enrolled general acute care hospitals that provide obstetrical services.
2. The hospital's ratio of MA discharges to total discharges exceeds the 99th percentile of the ratio of MA discharges to total hospital discharges of all enrolled general acute care hospitals that provide obstetrical services.
3. The hospital's combined MA revenue plus uncompensated care costs as a percentage of net patient revenue exceeds the 99th percentile of this percentage of all enrolled general acute care hospitals that provide obstetrical services. For this criterion, the uncompensated care costs are derived from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council's Financial Analysis 2005.
The Department intends to allocate $2.2 million from the State General Fund for this additional class of payments. Payments will be divided proportionally between qualifying hospitals based on the percentage of each qualifying hospital's MA nursery days to the total MA nursery days of all qualifying hospitals. In making these payments, the Department will ensure that no acute care general hospital will receive any DSH payment that is in excess of its hospital-specific DSH upper payment limit and the Commonwealth will not exceed its aggregate annual DSH allotment.
Fiscal Impact
For Fiscal Year 2006-2007, the fiscal impact as a result of this additional class of DSH payments is $4.841 million in total funds ($2.2 million in State General funds and $2.641 million in Federal funds).
Public Comment
Interested persons are invited to submit written comments regarding this notice to the Department of Public Welfare, Office of Medical Assistance Programs, c/o Deputy Secretary's Office, Attention: Regulations Coordinator, Room 515, Health and Welfare Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120. Comments received within 30 days will be reviewed and considered for any subsequent revision of the notice.
Persons with a disability who require an auxiliary aid or service may submit comments using the AT&T Relay Service at (800) 654-5984 (TDD users) or (800) 654-5988 (voice users).
ESTELLE B. RICHMAN,
SecretaryFiscal Note: 14-NOT-497. (1) General Fund; (2) Implementing Year 2006-07 is $2,200,000; (3) 1st Succeeding Year 2007-08 is $0; 2nd Succeeding Year 2008-09 is $0; 3rd Succeeding Year 2009-10 is $0; 4th Succeeding Year 2010-11 is $0; 5th Succeeding Year 2011-12 is $0; (4) 2005-06 Program--$473,693,000; 2004-05 Program--$531,785,000; 2003-04 Program--$411,042,000; (7) Medical Assistance--Inpatient; (8) recommends adoption. Funds have been included in the budget to cover this increase.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 06-2570. Filed for public inspection December 29, 2006, 9:00 a.m.]
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