New Opportunity to Apply to be a Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO—Notice of Intent June 28.  For provider groups interested in becoming a Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in 2020, CMS will accept Notices of Intent Apply (NOIA) between June 11 and June 28, 2019.  An NOIA is required in order to submit an application, which will be due by July 29.  The ACO Program was restructured for 2019 and offers rural providers a path to take on financial risk for shared savings and losses.   Email questions to SSPACO_Applications@cms.hhs.gov. 

Meeting Summary – HHS and HRSA Rural Summit. Earlier this year, HHS and HRSA convened a forum of rural health care stakeholders to discuss challenges rural communities face in providing and accessing health care and how HRSA and HHS can address these challenges in the course of program and policy development. The summary from this discussion is now available online at the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy’s Rural Health Resource Guide.

AHA Rural Report Podcast Series.  The American Hospital Association (AHA) has a podcast built around their recently published “Rural Report: Challenges Facing Rural Communities and the Roadmap to Ensure Local Access and High-quality, Affordable Care.” The first episode, 14 minutes in duration, features experts discussing current approaches to mental and behavioral health.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives Insurance Committee unanimously adopted House Bill 3, a bi-partisan bill sponsored by House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) and Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) to create a state-based insurance exchange. This exchange would supersede Pennsylvania’s current participation in the Federally Facilitated Marketplace via healthcare.gov by creating state-level infrastructure to replace the current enrollment process and its oversight. The transition is intended to create a health insurance marketplace comparable to the federal marketplace originally created by the Affordable Care Act rather than the continually volatile marketplace that exists today. It will also establish a reinsurance program that aims to lower premium costs of plans offered and helps sustain the program. HB 3 has been fast-tracked by the administration and legislature with the current expectation that it will be enacted along with the state budget later in June.

By Tom Marema, The Daily Yonder, June 3, 2019

Rural counties added one job for every $10,000 in extra SNAP reimbursements during the Great Recession, says a first-of-its-kind study. Metro counties also gained jobs from SNAP, but at a lesser rate.

Increased food-assistance spending that was part of the 2009 economic stimulus package helped increase employment at the peak of the Great Recession, especially in rural areas, a first-of-its-kind study says.

During the peak and immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, nonmetropolitan counties gained one job for every $10,000 in increased snapped redemptions, said the study, which was conducted by USDA Economic Research Service.

The economic impact in metropolitan areas was measurable but not as great. Metropolitan counties saw an increase of 0.4 jobs for every $10,000 in additional SNAP redemptions during the height of the recession, according to the study.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allotted an additional $40 billion in total SNAP benefits for low-income Americans from 2009 to 2013. The increase was enough to give each recipient an extra 13% in benefits. Part of the rationale for including increased SNAP benefits in the stimulus package was that the program would help both SNAP families and the greater economy, which would benefit from an infusion of cash-like benefits.

Previous studies have predicted that’s what happens with increased SNAP benefits. The ERS study is the first to confirm that prediction using historical economic data after the fact.

The study is also the first to look at the county-level impact of SNAP expenditures, giving economists a way to compare the economic impact in metropolitan vs. nonmetropolitan areas.

As expected, the economic impact was greater in rural areas, because the poverty rate is higher and a greater percentage of families participate in SNAP in nonmetropolitan counties.

The study controlled for other federal transfer payments, meaning the increase in employment is related to SNAP payments exclusively, not to other forms of government funding that went to individuals during the study period.

As expected, the economic impact of SNAP redemptions was less before and after the Great Recession of 2018.

The study examined three time periods – before the recession (2001-07), the recession and its immediate aftermath (2008-10), and post-recession (2011-14). Both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties saw statistically significant numbers of jobs created during the recession and its aftermath.

Surprisingly, while pre-recession SNAP reimbursement correlated with job-creation in nonmetro counties, in metro counties before the recession, SNAP had the opposite impact. Metro counties had a 0.2 job reduction for every $10,000 in SNAP redemptions. Researchers said that finding “is not robust” and needs further investigation.

“The main findings … — that SNAP redemptions have a positive and statistically significant impact on county-level employment, that these impacts were larger during the Great Recession than before or after it, and that the impacts were larger in nonmetro than metro counties – are robust across the models estimated,” the study stated.

The study also found that SNAP spending has a “spill over” effect. Increased SNAP reimbursements in one county were linked to job creation in adjoining counties, as well.

To view the article, including graphs and maps, visit https://www.dailyyonder.com/study-links-snap-spending-job-creation/2019/06/03/32155/