Advocacy Report • Friday, February 24, 2006

Budget Corrections – It’s Not Too Late

There is still time for your hospital CEO – or preferably a member of your Board of Trustees – to contact Gov. Bob Taft and your hospital’s state legislators, asking that they allocate $25 million dollars in each year of the biennium to off set the dramatic losses in funding to care for patients on an outpatient basis. Since outpatient payment rates are not statutorily mandated to rise with inflation, and since hospitals have only received outpatient payment increases sporadically over the past two decades, hospitals in Ohio lose millions of dollars each year for providing care to Medicaid recipients in outpatient settings.

To advance your advocacy efforts, OHA staff created a template letter so that you can easily assist your CEO or Board member with this request. The template letter can either be emailed or printed out and mailed. After sending the letter, we also suggest your CEO or Board Member place a follow up phone call to your hospitals state lawmakers and ask for their support of the OHA outpatient update.  

For additional information, please refer to the amendment OHA is submitting to the Governor’s office and legislature seeking an outpatient update.  More information can also be found on the Medicaid section of OHA’s Web site.

If you have any questions, concerns or feedback, please email Bridget Gargan at bridgetg@ohanet.org.

OHA Voices Concerns with BWC Proposal

Last week OHA met with Rep. Steve Buehrer (R-Delta), chairman of the House State Government Committee, to voice opposition to a Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) legislative proposal that would allow the Bureau to forego public rules to establish payment methodologies.  The Bureau may be looking to amend Senate Bill 7, sponsored by Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester), which is now pending in the House State Government Committee.  OHA expressed hospitals concerns to Rep. Buehrer, pointing out that other government payers including Medicaid and Medicaid conduct many public hearings when changes are made to reimbursement systems, and they are successful in implementing those changes as long as they are within their statutory authority to do so. OHA advocates that permitting a state agency to forgo a level of oversight is a bad public policy decision. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

Transparency Legislation Passes Ohio House, OHA Seeks Final Changes

Legislation that would require hospitals to report additional quality and pricing information to the Ohio Department of Health was referred this week to the Senate Health Committee, chaired by Sen. Kevin Coughlin (R-Akron). The House-passed version of Rep. Jim Raussen’s (R-Cincinnati) House Bill 197 addresses many of OHA’s concerns related to costly reporting requirements and unreliable data, but OHA will seek several final tweaks while the bill is being considered in the Senate. Read more on this legislation and the broader issue of hospital reporting of quality and charge data in OHA’s February Healthbeat article.  (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

2006 Election Overview

Though Election Day may be months away, many races are well beyond the starting gate. With the filing deadline now passed, candidates have staked their claim for May 2 primaries.

Supreme Court - Though Republican candidates will avoid dispute in the May 2 primary, Democrats face contested races to nominate candidates for two open seats on the court. Judge William O’Neill of the 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals and Judge A.J. Wagner of Dayton, who serves on Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, will appear on the primary ballot. The winner will run against Republican Justice Terrence O’Donnell, who beat Judge O’Neill in 2004 and served the remaining term of former Justice Deborah Cook, now a federal appeals court judge.

Attorney Ben Espy and Judge Peter Sikora of Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court will seek the Democratic nomination for the second available seat on the Ohio Supreme Court, a seat previously filled by the court’s sole Democratic Justice Alice Resnick, who chose not to seek re-election. The winner will run against Judge Robert Cupp of the 3rd Ohio District Court of Appeals in the general election. OHA’s Political Action Committee, Friends of Ohio Hospitals, will research the candidates and make endorsement recommendations after the May 2 primary.

Governor – While both parties will face primary races, the Republicans will be far more heated. Two current statewide officeholders, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, with Lt. Governor running mate State Representative Tom Raga and Attorney General Jim Petro, with Lt. Governor running mate State Senator Joy Padgett, will appear on the ballot for the Republicans.  The Democratic primary will include U.S. Representative Ted Strickland, who currently serves southeastern Ohio, with Lt. Governor running mate Lee Fisher and Bryan Flannery with Lt. Governor running mate Frank Stams. Bob Fitrakis, Green Party Candidate, and Bill Peirce, Libertarian Party Candidate have entered the Gubernatorial race as well. 

For more information on these candidates and to view a list of other statewide races, click here. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

OHA Supports a Smoke Free Ohio, Encourages Others to Help

As a member of the SmokeFreeOhio coalition, OHA will work alongside other partner organizations to enact a ban on smoking in all indoor public places, including bars and restaurants. The coalition, led by the American Cancer Society and supported by partners such as the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners, OHA and the Ohio State Medical Association,  has started the process of putting a clean indoor air standard on the November 2006 ballot.

OHA anticipates the legislature will not enact the language as presented in January, and the association will be working with the coalition on next steps for taking the issue to Ohio voters, most importantly the collection of signatures. To secure a November vote, the coalition must gather at least 97,000 valid signatures between May 4 and Aug. 1. Individuals interested in assisting with the signature collection drive and organizations wishing to endorse the effort can sign up at www.SmokeFreeOhio.org. The site also includes additional information and a mailing list sign-up. (Stacey Conrad, staceyc@ohanet.org)

OHA Advocacy “In the Know”

This is a new section to the OHA Advocacy Report, in which we will provide you with information to help make you an effective advocate for your hospital.

With election season upon us, OHA and Friends of Ohio Hospitals, the political action committee for Ohio hospitals and health systems, would like to provide hospitals with a basic understanding of do’s and don’ts with respect to political activity.

Guidelines on Participating in Political and Lobbying Activity

Do’s and Don’ts of Political Activity

Not a Member of the Advocacy Network?

Being a member of the OHA Advocacy Network provides you access to information on government activity and assists the hospital industry in sending unified messages to elected officials.  If you are not a current member, you can easily join on-line.  Join today to start reaping the benefits of being a member of the OHA Advocacy Network.

The OHA Advocacy Network is a service of the Ohio Hospital Association, 155 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215-3620, 614-221-7614, 614-221-4771 (fax)

Visit us on the Web at: www.ohanet.org

Direct questions on OHA’s advocacy agenda to:

Bridget Gargan, Vice President, State Policy & Advocacy (bridgetg@ohanet.org)

Jeff Klingler, Director, State Policy & Advocacy (jeffk@ohanet.org)

Jean Scholz, RN, Director, Health Policy (jeans@ohanet.org)

Rick Sites, General Counsel (ricks@ohanet.org)

Stacey Conrad, Specialist, State Policy & Advocacy (staceyc@ohanet.org)

Jonathan Archey, Manager, Federal Relations (jonathana@ohanet.org)

Laura Landis, Executive Assistant, State Policy & Advocacy (laural@ohanet.org)

© 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated January 03, 2008.
Please direct comments, corrections or additions to: oha@ohanet.org 614.221.7614.