OHA Advocacy Network

Advocacy Report • Friday, January 25, 2008

Action for next week…

Tuesday

HB 125 – Physician Credentialing, Managed Care Contracting: Senate Judiciary – Civil Justice, North Hearing Room at 11 a.m. (All testimony, possible substitute)

SB 251 – PATH Grant Program: Senate Finance & Financial Institutions, Finance Hearing Room at 2:30 p.m. (All testimony)

Wednesday

HB 320 – Booster Seats: House Infrastructure, Homeland Security & Veterans Affairs, Room 114 at 2:30 p.m. (Proponent testimony)

HB 355 – Medicaid Fraud: House Civil & Commercial Law, Room 122 at 2:30 p.m. (All testimony)

HB 144 – Nurses Month: Senate Health, Human Services & Aging, South Hearing Room at 2:30 p.m. (Proponent & Opponent testimony)

HB 331 – Maternity Licensure: House Health, Room 17, 4 p.m. (All testimony- Possible vote)

HB 253 – Advance Practice Nurses: House Health, Room 17, 4 p.m. (All testimony)

Significant Changes Made to Committee Leadership

Both House Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris this week announced changes to several committees. Most notably in the House of Representatives was the appointment of Rep. Lynn Wachtmann as House Health Committee Chair and Rep. Jay Hottinger as House Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair. In the Senate with Sen. Ray Miller replacing Sen. Teresa Fedor at Minority Leader, numerous committee assignment changes occurred including the appointment Sen. Capri Cafaro as the Ranking Minority Member on Senate Finance & Financial Institutions. Complete committee listings with these newest changes can be found at http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/resources/housecommittees.pdf and http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/resources/senatecommittees.pdf.

OHA to Meet with Governor Strickland on Medicaid Freeze

OHA, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, the Ohio Osteopathic Association and the Ohio State Medical Association will be meeting with Gov. Strickland this Tuesday to request that the administration reinstate an increase in Medicaid reimbursement that was slated to take effect Jan. 1 of this year. The announcement that hospitals would not receive the expected rate increase came late last year. In December, OHA, hospitals and providers gave testimony on the impact of the freeze at a public hearing at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. On Tuesday, leaders from the associations will provide the governor with information on the affect this freeze will have on hospitals and physicians, asking him to reinstate the expected update for those parties.

In related news, Gov. Strickland this week outlined dismal state budget scenarios to legislative leaders. With the possibility of a national recession looming, the administration is projecting budget shortfalls of anywhere from $733 million (based on slow economic growth) to $1.9 billion (based on a recession) by the end of fiscal year 2009. While the governor did not announce any corrective measures for the budget situation, state agencies face the likelihood of significant reductions to their original biennium spending plans. A briefing document outlining the administration’s forecast is available at http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/resources/budgetforecast.pdf (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

Hospitals Weigh In on Physician Credentialing, Managed Care Contracting Bill

OHA testified this week in support of legislation to simplify the physician credentialing process used by health plans and provide relief from the burdensome and sometimes unfair contracting practices used by some insurers. Michele Napier, vice president of payor relations for The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, noted that House Bill 125, sponsored by Rep. Matt Huffman (R-Lima), would go far in simplifying the cumbersome and overly complex credentialing and managed-care contracting process for physicians and physician practices.

Napier also spoke in support of amending the bill to prohibit health plans from using most favored nation clauses in their contracts with hospitals. At times, most favored nation clauses have been inserted into contracts at the insistence of a dominant health insurer, and they have been used to prohibit a provider from agreeing to a lower price with any other insurer without also giving a better or equal price to the dominant insurer. “MFN clauses are patently unfair, highly discriminatory and anti-competitive for hospitals physicians and physician practices, and we would welcome the relief,” Napier said. View Napier’s complete testimony at http://www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/testimony/hb125napier012308.pdf

Before the bill passed the Ohio House of Representatives, OHA was successful in extending some of the contracting protections to hospitals, as the original legislation only applied to physicians and other individual providers. OHA continues to garner support from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Civil Justice to enact the bill and to support and expand the prohibition of most favored nation clauses. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

OHA Testifies Against Medicaid Fraud Legislation

The House Civil and Commercial Committee heard testimony this week on House Bill 355, legislation which purports to combat Medicaid fraud. OHA voiced its opposition to the legislation, asserting that the bill, as drafted, fails to distinguish between billing mistakes and fraud.

Diane Signoracci, an attorney with extensive experience representing hospitals on False Claims issues, offered opponent testimony on behalf of OHA calling the legislation an inappropriate tool for pursing health care billing errors.

Attorney General Marc Dann’s office also testified before the committee, refuting the claims made by OHA. John Guthrie, chief of the health care fraud section in the attorney general's office, called the legislation "an effective complement to the federal False Claims Act that would enable the state of Ohio to successfully combat fraud."

Rep. Scott Oeslager, chair of the House Civil and Commercial Law committee, intends to hold interested party meetings on the bill. OHA and other Medicaid providers will actively participate in the meetings. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org; Mary Gallagher, maryg@ohanet.org)

Senate Committee Accepts OHA-Supported Amendment for Nonprofit Law Changes

Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary - Civil Justice Committee accepted an amendment to House Bill 160, sponsored by Rep. Danny Bubp (R-West Union), in favor of hospitals and passed the bill unanimously. The amendment makes several technical, but significant, changes to Ohio's corporation and property tax exemption laws. The amendment changes Ohio law to specifically allow limited liability companies (LLCs) to be formed for nonprofit purposes. A recent interpretation by the Ohio Secretary of State questioned the permissible purposes of LLCs and resulted in nonprofit articles for new LLCs to be rejected. In addition, changes were made to clarify the requirement that a county treasurer's certificate accompany all property tax exemption applications. The new language allows the Ohio Department of Taxation to give applicants notice and opportunity to correct deficient applications and allows lessees and others to file property exemption applications. Finally, the language acknowledges transfers of tax-exempt property between a nonprofit LLC and its nonprofit member. The changes apply retroactively to applications pending or on appeal.

OHA worked with the Ohio State Bar Association and the Ohio Department of Taxation, which supported the amendment. OHA voiced support for the amendment to the committee. The bill must be considered by the full Senate, and get House agreement to Senate changes before heading to the governor. (Jeff Klingler jeffk@ohanet.org; Mary Gallagher maryg@ohanet.org)

Nurses Month Proposal Receives Sponsor Testimony

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) gave sponsor testimony Wednesday in on a proposal to designate May as Nurses Month. She stated that the legislation would acknowledge and celebrate the over 198,000 nurses in Ohio. Rep. Beatty said the Nurses Month designation would recognize the contributions and commitment of nurses who ensure quality health care in the state. House Bill 144 has already passed the house is now being considered in Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)

Leadership Through Advocacy Award - It’s Not too Late to Nominate

The deadline is quickly approaching to submit nominations for the 2008 Leadership Through Advocacy Award. Nominations for the award are due by 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)

Advocacy Reference Tool

The 2007 HCAP Model is now available at http://www.ohanet.org/finance/hcap/2007FINAL.xls. More information on HCAP and the latest news and updates on federal and state hospital and health system reimbursement polices and practices can be found on OHA’s new finance Web site at http://www.ohanet.org/finance/Finance.html.

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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, Manager, State Policy & Advocacy (staceyc@ohanet.org)

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

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