MHA Today | February 14, 2025

Staff Contact: Jon Doolittle

Today, MHA and other health care stakeholders wrote Gov. Mike Kehoe to encourage him to work with us to protect the state’s health care system during the ongoing federal spending discussions.

Members of Congress have been asked to reduce federal spending with a target of approximately $880 billion. Items under consideration for spending reductions within Medicaid may include a reduced federal matching percentage for Medicaid expansion, block grants and a lower cap on state provider taxes. These cuts could significantly impair the state’s safety net and harm its health care system.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

MHA offers an analysis that estimates the effect on Medicare inpatient fee-for-service payments from the post-acute care transfer adjustment for FFYs 2020 through 2025. Hospitals that transfer a Medicare beneficiary to a post-acute care provider can incur a payment reduction if the inpatient length of stay is less than the geometric mean.

This analysis includes the estimated payment reduction by discharge setting, including SNFs, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, LTCHs, inpatient psychiatric facilities, cancer and children’s hospitals, hospice and home health. Policy and analytic studies, prepared for distribution by the Hospital Industry Data Institute, are available for download to authorized users of HIDI Advantage^®.

Staff Contact: Jill Williams

The Missouri and Kansas hospital associations invite presenters to submit abstracts for the Health Care Workforce Innovation Bi-State Summit. Complete details are available in the Abstract Guidelines and the submission deadline is Friday, Feb. 28.

This workforce summit, which will explore actionable strategies to strengthen the health care workforce by connecting hospitals and academia from Missouri and Kansas, will take place Thursday, Oct. 2, and Friday, Oct. 3, at Children’s Mercy Research Institute in Kansas City, Mo.

Attendees will gain insights on building career pathways, transforming education, supporting well-being, upskilling, innovating care delivery and leveraging workforce data. Registration for the event is open.

Staff Contact: Keara Okolo

Missouri HOSA will host its 2025 State Leadership Conference on Monday, March 24, and Tuesday, March 25, in Rolla, Mo. This event will feature more than 70 competitive and recognition events for students across the state.

Judges are needed to make this event possible. If you or someone you know is interested in serving as a judge, please complete this judge registration form.

Learn more about the competitive event guidelines online.

Staff Contact: Jill Williams or Andrew Wheeler

HRSA is currently accepting grant applications for the Rural Residency Planning and Development program through Thursday, April 10. This program supports the creation of accredited rural residency programs to train more physicians in rural areas and address workforce shortages.

The RRPD also provides startup funding to help establish sustainable programs through stable funding sources like Medicare and Medicaid. The program will fund as much as $750,000 to eligible applicants.