OHA Advocacy Network

Advocacy Report • Friday, March 17, 2006

Amendment to Budget Bill Obtained

OHA is poised to obtain an amendment to the budget corrections bill that would make permissive the requirement that hospitals enforce a $3 co-pay for Medicaid recipients who inappropriately use the emergency department. OHA estimated that it would cost hospitals $25 to collect this $3 co-pay. Another amendment to allocate $25 million to hospital reimbursement for outpatient services is still being pursued.

Dr. Gus Kious with the Cleveland Clinic Eastern Region this week testified to the Ohio House Finance and Appropriations Committee in support of these two amendments to the budget corrections bill that would help hospitals continue to care for patients in the most appropriate and cost-effective settings—whether that be inpatient or outpatient.

OHA will continue to play a role in the legislature’s discussion of the budget corrections bill, advocating for these amendments. OHA’s March Healthbeat article, which will appear in this publication Monday, March 27, will explore in more detail the amendments hospitals seek in the budget. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

BWC Bill Awaiting Governor’s Signature

Senate Bill 7, sponsored by Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester), passed the legislature last week without the Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) legislative proposal that would have allowed the Bureau to forego public rules to establish payment methodologies. OHA had expressed hospitals concerns regarding the BWC proposal, 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 advocated that permitting a state agency to forgo a level of oversight is a bad public policy decision. The bill is now on its way to Governor for his signature. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

Ohio Legislature, Supreme Court Act on Wrongful Birth Lawsuits

The Ohio House of Representatives this week concurred with the Senate, passing legislation to bar certain medical malpractice lawsuits over children born with severe birth defects. House Bill 287, sponsored by Rep. Jim Aslanides (R-Coshocton), initially focused on a licensing exemption for Amish birthing centers. Although exempt from licensure, the Amish birthing centers still would be required to comply with regulations to be developed by the Ohio Department of Health. In a Senate committee, the bill picked up an amendment to prohibit wrongful birth/wrongful life lawsuits brought by parents of children with birth defects who allege their physician is liable because they would have ended the life of the child had they known about prenatal birth defects. With the support of both the House and Senate, the bill now goes to the governor for his signature.

As HB 287 worked its way through the state legislature, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on a wrongful birth case before it that parents of an unhealthy child born after negligent genetic counseling or failure to diagnose a fetal defect may file a medical malpractice lawsuit, but that they could recover only those costs arising from the pregnancy and birth of the child. The court said parents could not recover economic costs of raising the disabled child or non-economic damages. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

OHA Seeks Additional Changes to Substitute False Claims Bill

OHA is seeking to tighten language in Senate Bill 39, legislation that would expand the state’s False Claims Act to more closely resemble the federal Act. The bill would allow a whistleblower to bring suit against an entity doing business with the state and receive up to 25% of any awards as a result of the suit. OHA has worked with bill sponsor Sen. David Goodman (R-Columbus) to tighten the bill so that these types of suits cannot be used to go after activities that are not fraudulent. OHA also wants to ensure that individuals cannot proceed with frivolous lawsuits. OHA has outlined hospitals concerns with SB 39 in a letter to Sen. Goodman, proposing amendments to be included in the sub bill version. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

Circulating Nurse Legislation

HB 522, legislation requiring hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities and physician offices where surgeries are performed to have a circulating nurse on hand for each surgical procedure, had sponsor testimony in House Health Committee this week. Bill sponsor Rep. Jon Peterson (R-Delaware) explained that this legislation is meant to give surgical patients who are anesthetized and cannot speak for themselves an advocate in the operating room.

The OHA Quality committee has recommended a position to oppose the bill and to amend it with an exemption for hospitals, as JCAHO and CMS have standards in place for the use of circulating nurses. OHA will discuss the bill further with the Nurse Executives and will bring the bill to the OHA Board for a final position in May. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

IRS Issues New Political Activity Guidelines for 501(c)(3) Organizations

OHA has prepared a bulletin to help its’ members comply with new political activity guidelines recently issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As part of the 2004 election cycle, the IRS began a “political activity compliance initiative” and conducted focused investigations of allegations of improper political activity by tax-exempt organizations. Admitting the lack of clear standards the IRS published a fact sheet entitled, “Election Year Activities and the Prohibition on Political Campaign Intervention for Section 501(c)(3) Organizations” to help educate tax-exempt organizations before the upcoming 2006 election cycle. This fact sheet, along with materials produced by OHA, are available in the bulletin at http://www.ohanet.org/Bulletins/2006/06-002.htm. As political campaigns heat up, pressure on hospitals to participate will intensify. Hospitals are advised to consult legal counsel and review the resources available in this bulletin to help guide political campaign activities. (Mary Gallagher, maryg@ohanet.org)

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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)