Healthcare

Followed through on his commitment to reform pharmacy benefit managers’ operations to help lower out-of-pocket costs for Pennsylvanians on prescription medication, bring price transparency to bad actors, and support locally-owned pharmacies. 

Signed a landmark, bipartisan bill into law that requires healthcare insurers to cover preventative breast and ovarian cancer screenings for high-risk women at no cost.

Required health insurers to pay for covered health care services through telemedicine, to provide coverage for autism services, and to ensure children who stutter can access speech therapy.

Rolled out the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance’s Independent Review Program to offer Pennsylvanians a chance to appeal health insurance companies’ denials, which overturned 50.1 percent of appealed denials to help ensure more Pennsylvanians receive the health services they deserve. 

Established a health resource center in Darlington Township that helped over 500 residents impacted by the Norfolk Southern train derailment who had health, pet, farm animal, and air and water quality concerns, and rolled out a health resource network for residents and providers.    

Repeatedly secured funding to expand programming to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in the Commonwealth and signed Act 5, which requires more data to be shared between the Maternal Mortality Review Committee and Department of Health around maternal mortality. 

Unveiled Pennsylvania's first-ever Maternal Health Strategic Action Plan – a comprehensive multi-agency plan that contained strategic goals, data and research, ongoing work, and recommendations to combat maternal health disparities that can shape quality of life for both mothers and their children.

Since the historic investment of $354.8 million in federal and state funding secured in the 2024-25 budget, there was a 31 percent reduction in the ID/A adult emergency waiting list for services and a complete elimination of the emergency waiting list in three counties. 

Created a Behavioral Health Council to create a plan of action to streamline and improve the accessibility of mental health and substance use disorder services in the Commonwealth.

Filed a multi-state lawsuit challenging  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s dangerous overhaul of the CDC’s longstanding childhood immunization schedule, ignoring overwhelming evidence supporting its effectiveness.

Directed the State Board of Pharmacy to convene to address disruptions in vaccine access. The Board subsequently voted to permit pharmacists to follow guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians, and U.S. Food & Drug Administration. 

Created Pennsylvania’s own vaccination guidance, ensuring that all Pennsylvanians have clear, trusted guidance on immunizations to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. 

Signed an executive order that directed the PA Department of Health to establish a state-based safety net to protect children’s access to vaccines, required all state agencies to align policies with trusted medical experts, launched a central online vaccine portal, and created a Vaccine Education Workgroup. 

Secured $280 million state and federal funding to help raise wages for direct support professionals who provide care for Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and/or autism. Thanks to this investment, the direct support professional vacancy rate was the lowest it has been in a decade. 

Signed the FY2023-24 budget with $50 million for Hospital and Healthsystem Emergency Relief to support the vital work of hospitals.

Worked with the General Assembly to secure $20.7 million in funding for increased mileage reimbursements for ambulance services, protecting access to healthcare and ensuring that EMS workers and first responders are properly reimbursed.

Secured $40 million in increased funding for county mental health services – after not receiving new funding since 2008 – and $375 million to support student mental health services and safety needs in schools throughout the Commonwealth.  

Secured $193 million in federal funding for the first year of its approved five-year Rural Health Transformation Plan (RHTP) to improve access to health care in Pennsylvania’s rural communities. 

Eliminated the Department of Human Services’ Medicaid provider enrollment backlog, which stood at 35,000 when he took office, lowering barriers to serving approximately 3 million Pennsylvanians in the Medicaid program.

Provided $2 million in first-time state funding for nursing apprenticeships. 

Signed the Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act, which limited noncompete clauses for doctors, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, and physician assistants.

Fully implemented multistate licensure compacts that make it easier for doctors, nurses, and physical therapists who are qualified and licensed in other states to practice in the Commonwealth within days. 

The processing time for nursing licenses dropped from 25 days to just six days; doctors’ licenses from 43 days to five days; and pharmacist licenses from 20 days to just one day.

Announced his Administration would not defend the state law banning Medicaid coverage for abortion as the ban violated the Commonwealth’s constitution and urged the Commonwealth Court to strike down the ban. 

Ended state funding to crisis pregnancy centers and allocated the funding for the comprehensive Women’s Health Service Program. In the first two years of the program, grantees distributed menstrual supplies to more than 32,000 clients, conducted over 42,500 screenings for substance abuse and chronic disease, and provided care navigation to nearly 10,000 clients.   

Issued new guidance strongly encouraging Pennsylvania health insurers to cover over-the-counter contraceptives with or without a prescription – resulting in major insurers to announce they would cover these contraceptives. 

Called on the federal government to ensure over-the-counter contraception is fully covered by insurance, expanding access to reproductive healthcare. 

Filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing the court should overrule a lower court decision that reversed the Federal Drug Administration’s decades-long approval of an abortion pill, mifepristone. 

Filed amicus briefs in two U.S. District Courts arguing that the federal government was grossly overstepping their authority when trying to subpoena the personal information of transgender patients at two Pennsylvania hospitals. 

Joined the Reproductive Freedom Alliance with governors from 20 states to safeguard the freedom to choose and improve abortion and reproductive health access.