State of Reform (SOR), an HMA Company, hosted its inaugural Pennsylvania Health Policy Conference in Harrisburg on September 16, 2026, bringing together more than 170 interest-holders, including state health and human services departments leaders, policymakers, providers, health plans, community‑based organizations (CBOs), and others to discuss the most pressing health-related issues in the commonwealth.
The conference focused on how federal Medicaid policy changes, managed care challenges, and workforce shortages, are reshaping Pennsylvania’s healthcare landscape while highlighting prevention and cross-sector collaboration as essential to building a more sustainable system. Key discussions are highlighted below.
Central Discussions: Federal Medicaid Policy, Managed Care, and the Workforce
Pennsylvania Medicaid
Valerie Arkoosh, MD, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) opened the conference by examining how federal policy and fiscal pressures are likely to affect Pennsylvania’s health and human services system. She discussed the anticipated loss of Medicaid coverage for approximately 310,000 enrollees due to the 2025 budget reconciliation act (P.L 119-21, now known as the Working Families Tax Cut Act [WFTCA]) and the resulting strain on individuals, providers, and the broader healthcare system.
WFTCA and broader financial pressures also raise concerns about the sustainability of hospitals, with closures threatening access to care, especially in rural and underserved communities. Hospitals and safety-net facilities are consistently working against staffing shortages, capacity constraints, and shifting payer dynamics. Pennsylvania is using funds from the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to support struggling rural hospitals as best it can. DHS has awarded $42 million in RHTP grant fund awards so far to support various rural facilities.
Medicaid managed care
Community HealthChoices (CHC), Pennsylvania’s Medicaid managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) program, has been at the forefront of the healthcare conversation in the state as a result of the cancellation of its 2024 contract awards for the program. In June 2026, DHS released a request for information seeking responses on several topics that could shape a new CHC re-procurement, including the number of Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) within CHC, regional versus statewide coverage, length of contract terms, strategies to align coordination of Medicare and Medicaid, artificial intelligence (AI), and other program recommendations.
During the managed care discussion, Sally Kozak, Deputy Secretary of the Office of Medical Assistance Programs, and Emily Katz, Executive Director of Pennsylvania Medicaid MCOs, joined health plan leaders in assessing how well the physical health managed care program is improving access, quality, and cost management.
The conversation centered on persistent challenges involving provider participation, care coordination, the complexity of administering the programs, and the variation in performance by region. There are opportunities to reform or refine managed care to better align incentives with patient needs and system sustainability.
Workforce shortages
Like all states, Pennsylvania is facing a health professional shortage across all sectors. Jennifer Hale, Director of the Bureau of Policy and Regulatory Management in the Office of Long-Term Living, and Garry Pezzano, President and Chief Executive Officer of LeadingAge PA, highlighted how this issue is affecting people who need long-term care. Speakers emphasized that Pennsylvania’s ability to meet the needs of an aging population will depend largely on strengthening the workforce that delivers these services. They explained several of the strategies underway and being discussed to achieve this goal, for example by improving wages and benefits for direct care workers, strengthening education and training pipelines, expanding loan repayment programs, prioritizing recruitment, and investing in technology for telehealth services and AI-assisted workflows.
Advancing Change: Upstream Interventions and Collaboration
Paying for care continues to be a chief concern. While many of the financial pressures come from within the healthcare system as the result of policy and budgetary challenges, throughout the conference speakers emphasized that many of Pennsylvania’s most pressing healthcare challenges begin outside the healthcare system. Food insecurity, unstable housing, transportation barriers, limited caregiver support, and lack of social and community supports worsen health outcomes and lead to increased healthcare expenditures.
Panelists called for greater investment in upstream prevention services that help people remain healthy and independent before their needs become more acute to contain costs over time. Speakers recommended approaches such as expanding housing supports, food as medicine initiatives, community health worker investments, caregiver supports, reentry services, and technology that allows people to receive care at home, as well as other initiatives to ensure people can remain healthy and independent.
Pennsylvania has already begun investing in several of these areas. The fiscal 2027 budget allocated $1.9 million to the Investments in Health pilot program for housing stability services and reentry supports for incarcerated individuals. Federal matching dollars for the first year of this program total $5.2 million. Another tool, PA Navigate, connects people with CBOs, state agencies, and providers that can help people access basic necessities.
Speakers also stressed that these efforts will have limited reach if organizations operate separately. Better coordination among healthcare providers, MCOs, CBOs, hospital systems, and state agencies can reduce the fragmentation, make services easier to navigate, and help funding and data systems support common goals. That message was consistently expressed throughout the conference: Pennsylvania’s healthcare challenges cannot be addressed by one sector alone, and progress will depend on sustained collaboration among the organizations that serve individuals and communities.
Looking Ahead
If you are looking for strategies and solutions to address urgent healthcare policy and operational challenges, Health Management Associates (HMA) experts are available to help you navigate these complex changes and identify practical paths forward.
Through the HMA National Conference, State of Reform partnership events, and other HMA meetings across the country, we connect state leaders, providers, health plans, and community stakeholders to share insights, elevate lessons, and advance solutions. Join us at an upcoming event—including our next HMA National Conference in New Orleans, LA, October 5–7, 2026—or explore additional opportunities to engage with HMA and access the full schedule of conferences and resources.
State of Reform develops its conference agendas through collaboration with HMA subject matter experts/market leads and stakeholders across the public and private sectors, including state officials, community-based organizations, providers, payers, and more.