PA Health Funders Collaborative Meets with DPW

In January, leadership and members of the Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative met with officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. The meeting, which included the Department’s Secretary Gary Alexander and Chief Medical Officer David Kelley, MD, discussed opportunities for collaboration to improve the Medicaid program in the Commonwealth.

Given Pennsylvania’s budget challenges, health funders are proactively making the case for cuts and programmatic changes that do not harm vulnerable populations and which advance cost effective models of care that improve quality outcomes, such as behavioral health integration and long-term care transitions. Secretary Alexander expressed interest in increasing healthcare cost and quality data transparency, improving care integration and coordination and streamlining the Medicaid bureaucracy. Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative and the Department of Public Welfare plan to reconvene in February to continue the conversation.

The North Penn Community Health Foundation is a member of the Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative. Russell Johnson, the foundation’s President and CEO, serves as Co-chair along with Karen Wolk Feinstein, President and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation based in Pittsburgh.