OHA Advocacy Network

Advocacy Report • Friday, December 14, 2007

The 127th Ohio General Assembly has recessed for the year. Session and committee hearings will resume on January 9, 2008. House and Senate leadership have released their session and committee calendars for the first half of 2008 which can be viewed at http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/resources/2008gacalendar.pdf.

Call to Action: Share the Impact of Medicaid Freeze

OHA urges Ohio hospitals to share the impact of the recently-announced freeze in Medicaid inpatient reimbursement rates by submitting testimony for a public hearing, scheduled for next Thursday, Dec. 20. Several weeks ago, the governor announced a proposed emergency rule to halt the expected Medicaid reimbursement increase for providers scheduled for Jan. 1. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) will hold the required public hearing for the emergency rule Dec. 20 at 1 p.m. in Room 3110B, 30 East Broad Street, 31^st Floor, Columbus. Written and verbal testimony will be taken at the hearing, and the department also will accept written testimony submitted or postmarked by Dec. 20.

OHA will testify at the hearing and coordinate testimony from hospitals. OHA encourages all hospitals to submit written testimony to ODJFS, citing the specific impact of the rate freeze on their services and patients. Written comments on the rule should be submitted by mail to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Office of Legal Services, 30 East Broad St., 31^st Floor, Columbus, OH 43215-3414, by fax at 614.752.8298 or by e-mail at rules@odjfs.state.oh.us. Please forward a copy of all written comments to OHA at bridgetg@ohanet.org, or contact Bridget Gargan at 614-221-7614 if your hospital plans to offer verbal testimony. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

OHA Seeking Nominations for Leadership Through Advocacy Award

OHA is now accepting nominations for the 2008 Leadership Through Advocacy Award. The deadline to submit a nomination for the award is Feb. 11, 2008. Nomination forms are available online at http://www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/awards/leadership_nomination.doc.

The Leadership Through Advocacy Award recognizes an individual, a hospital or a health system that demonstrates throughout the year the ability to effectively advocate in the legislative and regulatory arenas for the betterment of Ohio hospitals and the patients and communities they serve. This is the second year the award will be presented. The recipient of the award will be honored at the OHA Recognition Dinner June 9, 2008, in conjunction with the OHA Annual Meeting June 9-11 at the Hilton Columbus at Easton.

OHA is also accepting nominations for the 2008 Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award and its other prestigious Health Care Leadership Awards. Nomination materials are available online at www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/Awards/. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org; Tiffany Himmelreich, tiffanyh@ohanet.org)

OHA Survey: Hospital Support of Local Ballot Issues & Levies

Every May and November, more and more local issues and levies are appearing on the ballot – and hospitals and health systems are seeing increased requests to offer their support. Does your hospital have a written policy guiding its decisions on supporting such issues and levies? To help hospitals throughout Ohio develop these policies, please respond to the following brief survey. Click Here to take survey. Survey results will be provided in an upcoming OHA Advocacy Report.

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)