OHA Advocacy Network

Advocacy Report • Friday, March 9, 2007

Wednesday at noon, Governor Ted Strickland will give his first State of the State Address to a joint session of the Ohio General Assembly. The State of the State Address will be aired on the Ohio News Network live at noon with a repeat at 6 p.m. OHA will post a copy of the governor’s address Wednesday afternoon at http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/stateofstate.htm.

State Budget

On the heels of his State of the State Address, Gov. Strickland will release his budget proposal for the State of Ohio on Thursday. State lawmakers will have only three and half months to consider and enact the state budget as it must be signed by the governor by July 1.

OHA staff is already meeting with key members of the Strickland administration and state legislators to share hospitals’ budget priorities, which are outlined in February’s OHA HealthBeat. OHA budget priorities include:

ü The creation of a special state fund to make supplemental payments to rural hospitals that provide OB services.

ü The creation of a state fund at a cost of $4 million in state dollars for each year of the biennium to help preserve the state’s verified trauma centers.

ü Reimbursement for critical access hospitals on a reasonable cost basis to allow these vital facilities to continue serving their communities — a cost of approximately $8 million in state dollars each year of the biennium.

ü A $20 million (state share per year) increase to the outpatient fee schedule over the course of the biennium. In 2004, Ohio hospitals lost over $120 million in providing outpatient care to Medicaid recipients. This will reduce hospital losses to $70 million per year.

ü Coverage for the 25,000 low-income uninsured adults who were eliminated from Medicaid in 2005 when eligibility for parents was reduced from 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 90% FPL.

HCAP: Popular Topic of Conversation

The Hospital Care Assurance Program (HCAP) appears to be an attractive funding source for elected officials looking to fund health care coverage proposals for uninsured Ohioans. Freshman Representative Armond Budish’s (D-Beachwood) proposal would use HCAP funding, along with an additional hospital assessment, to fund health insurance premiums for the uninsured.

OHA is actively meeting with Budish to learn more about the mechanics of his proposal. Budish feels as though his plan is “a clear benefit to hospitals” and will eliminate the majority of uncompensated care delivered by hospitals. OHA staff has expressed concern about the financial viability and sustainability of the program.

Additionally, the Strickland administration has expressed an interest in using HCAP dollars for health care reform initiatives.

OHA will process health care reform issues with the CEO Committee on Policy and Advocacy and the OHA Board of Trustees. OHA will coordinate a grassroots strategy for reform issues with the Hospital Government Relations Officers group. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

OHA Meets with Chairman of New Health Care Committee

OHA met with Rep. Jim Raussen (R-Springdale) this week to discuss his objectives for the newly formed Health Care Access and Affordability Committee. Specifically, Rep. Raussen plans to analyze Ohio’s existing health care system that impacts Ohioans from birth through their entrance into long term care, through a series of subgroups that include Medicaid, Medicare, the uninsured population and Ohio’s hospital system. In addition, the committee will examine:

· The rising number of uninsured adults in the state;

· The rising costs of Medicaid; and

· The reasoning for rapidly increasing health care costs.

OHA will be coordinating expert hospital testimony for committee hearings on the following issues:

Hospital Care Assurance Program/Uncompensated Care
Community Benefit: What is it? How is it measured?
Technology
The ‘nuts & bolts’ of hospital pricing
Transparency

The Healthcare Access and Affordability Committee meets Thursdays at 10 a.m. and had its first hearing this week. While there were no bills on the agenda, the committee heard testimony on the current state of health insurance coverage and what action other states are taking to deal with rising health care costs from John Sheils, vice president of Virginia-based health care consulting firm the Lewin Group. The committee will continue to hear testimony on general health care topics before developing any legislation. According to Chairman Raussen, definite proposals are not likely to surface until after Memorial Day (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

Deadline Quickly Approaching for New Quality Reporting Requirements

The deadline for reporting new hospital quality measures to the Ohio Department of Health is fast approaching, and OHA has created a Web site to assist hospitals with the new reporting requirements. House Bill 197, legislation sponsored by Rep. Jim Raussen (R-Springdale) and effective Nov. 13, 2006, requires hospitals to report 10 quality measures by April 1. The bill also expands existing hospital charges reporting, which are due to the department May 1.

Late last year, ODH released the 10 quality measures selected from measures developed by four national entities (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Joint Commission, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and National Quality Forum) – to be reported by hospitals. To assist hospitals in reporting these measures, OHA created a secure Web site to capture and report to ODH the required measures. The OHA Web site went live today, allowing enough time for the data to be reviewed, edited and validated by hospital staff prior to submission of the data to ODH. More information is available in an OHA member bulletin at www.ohanet.org/Bulletins/2007/07-005.htm. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

2007-2008 OHA Advocacy Materials Now Available

Materials to help you advocate for your hospital are now available:

The OHA Legislative Directory is a pocket-size brochure with complete list of members of the 127^th Ohio General Assembly and members of 110^th Congress from Ohio, including district maps and state legislators' committee assignments. A copy of this brochure will be mailed to hospital and health system CEOs. If you would like to order copies of this brochure, please contact Laura Landis at laural@ohanet.org or 614.221.7614.

The OHA Reference Manual includes more comprehensive information on members of the administration, 127^th Ohio General Assembly and members of the 110^th Congress from Ohio, including district maps, committee assignments, and a breakdown of hospitals located in legislative districts. This year the Reference Manual will be available on via the OHA Web site at http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/network/reference_manual.pdf. All updates will be available at this address as well. To request a hard copy of the Reference Manual, please contact Laura Landis at laural@ohanet.org or 614.221.7614.

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)