OHA - HEALTH e-NEWS

Search:

Monday, November 4, 2002
Ohio Hospitals Need Congressional Support
OHA is asking members of Congress to actively continue their support of Medicaid and Medicare hospital relief legislation during the lame duck session by writing letters to the president and party leaders in support of the provisions. OHA’s efforts are a state-specific complement to a national pledge campaign currently underway by the American Hospital Association (AHA). OHA is urging members of Ohio’s delegation to sign AHA’s pledge and also send letters of support for hospital relief legislation directly to President Bush and key congressional leaders.

AHA and OHA are urging Congress to support Medicare relief for hospitals, the restoration of funds being cut under the Hospital Care Assurance Program (HCAP) and full funding for the newly enacted Nurse Reinvestment Act. While many members of Congress have expressed support for hospital payment relief, the lame duck session will be the last opportunity for passage of these important hospital initiatives. OHA member hospitals interested in joining the advocacy effort should contact Jonathan Archey at 614.221.7614 or jonathana@ohanet.org.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

Read today's news clips

(Editor’s note: StateHealthClips.com has gone to a subscription service. Please note that the link to access clips will change daily. If you visit www.statehealthclips.com, you will be required to enter a subscriber password. No password is required for the link published in HEALTH e-NEWS Plus.)

Tuesday, November 5, 2002
ODI Shuts Down Illegal Health Plan
Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) Director Lee Covington last week issued a cease and desist order against unlicensed Vanguard Group, Inc., also referred to as Vanguard Assets Group, Vanguard Marketing, or Vanguarde Assets Group, requiring it to immediately stop engaging in insurance activities.

The New York-based company is accused of collecting more than $19,000 in premiums from three Ohio individuals and failing to pay more than $15,000 in medical bills incurred by the individuals. The company has never been authorized to transact business in Ohio as a health insurance company or as a multiple employer welfare arrangement.

This is the third health insurance scam against which the Department’s Illegal Health Insurance Operations (IHIO) Task Force has taken action in the past year. The IHIO Task Force is currently investigating several other illegal health plans that may be operating in the state. Hospitals with information about similar scams are encouraged to contact ODI. For more information, visit www.ohioinsurance.gov/Newsroom/scripts/Release.asp?ReleaseID=983. (Mary Gallagher, maryg@ohanet.org)

2003 Final Rule on Outpatient Payment Rates Issued
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last week released the final rule on the 2003 Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS), predicting that outpatient payments will increase by more than 3.5 percent. Despite this prediction, the rule will affect individual hospitals differently depending on factors such as services provided and coding accuracy.

In addition to changes in outpatient payments, the 2003 OPPS final rule will change the list of “inpatient-only” procedures and will make revisions to many ambulatory payment classification coding items. The complete rule can be accessed at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a021101c.html and OHA members can look for an upcoming bulletin at www.ohanet.org/bulletins/. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

Read today's news clips

Wednesday, November 6, 2002
Stratton, O’Connor Win Court Seats
In part thanks to the dedication of the health care community, Justice Evelyn Stratton and Maureen O’Connor have won seats on the Ohio Supreme Court. Stratton was reelected for a second six-year term winning an unofficial 55 percent of the votes in her race against Janet R. Burnside. O’Connor won with 57 percent of the votes against Tim Black in unofficial results. O’Connor’s term begins Jan. 1 and Stratton’s begins Jan. 2.

The election of Stratton and O’Connor is hoped to result in a court that will show more judicial restraint and not re-write the law. This is particularly important to the health care community as pending tort reform legislation, which has historically been stuck down by a majority vote of the court, continues to work its way through the state legislature. Health care leaders, physicians and others in the health care community played a large part in the outcome of the Ohio Supreme Court races. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org; Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)

Republicans Take Majority in State, Nation
Winning big in yesterday’s elections, Republicans enhanced their control of both chambers in the state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives, and gained control of the U.S. Senate.

On the state level, Republicans swept virtually every race, gaining one additional seat in the Ohio Senate and three more seats in the Ohio House. This strengthens their already solid majority in both chambers. The Republican majority will be important in the coming year as the legislature deals with tort reform, Medicaid and other issues affecting the hospital community, and as Ohio’s budget process for next year begins to play out.

Nationally, Republicans gained the majority in the U.S. Senate while retaining control of the U.S. House. Ohio's congressional delegation shrunk by one seat under redistricting but Republicans still gained a seat to go from an 11-8 majority to a 12-6 edge. With Republicans taking control of the Senate, the hospital community will rely even more on Sens. Mike Dewine and George Voinovich, who will now have increased influence on issues affecting hospitals given their party's new majority. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org; Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

Read today's news clips

(Editor’s note: The news clips are being password-protected on the OHA Web site. OHA members will be notified separately of the password. HEALTH e-NEWS Plus subscribers can still access news clips through the daily e-mail without a password.)

Thursday, November 7, 2002
Cleveland Medicaid HMO Unable to Recover
Renaissance Health Plan, a Cleveland-based Medicaid HMO, was this week officially placed into liquidation by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. This follows a period of rehabilitation requested by the Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) in August after a potential buyer decided not to purchase the ailing company. Renaissance’s 35,000 Medicaid enrollees have been moved to a fee-for-service plan and ODI is working to dissolve and distribute the company’s assets to policyholders and other creditors.

Renaissance, founded in 1994 as Emerald HMO, was one of seven HMOs serving Medicaid patients in Ohio. It operated in Cuyahoga, Lorain and Summit counties through funding from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. (Berna Bell, bernab@ohanet.org)

Regional Meetings Around the Corner
OHA is once again traveling Ohio for a series of winter regional meetings to discuss the Hospital Care Assurance Program, medical malpractice environment, certificate of need and the organization’s advocacy agenda on important issues to hospitals. The meetings are:

Dec. 16, 8:30 - 11:30 a.m., Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association
Dec. 16, 1:30 - 4 p.m., Greater Cincinnati Hospital Council
Dec. 17, 1:30 - 4 p.m., Holiday Inn French Quarter, Perrysburg
Dec. 18, 9:30 - 12 p.m., Center for Health Affairs, Cleveland
Dec. 18, 1:30 - 4 p.m., Akron Regional Hospital Association
Dec. 19, 1:30 - 4 p.m., Brookside Golf & Country Club, Columbus

Registration information was this week e-mailed to hospital chief executive officers. Those unable to attend the meeting held in their region can register to attend the Dec. 19 meeting held in Columbus. (Debbie Wolfe, debbiew@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

Read today's news clips

Friday, November 8, 2002
JCAHO Considering CDC Hand Hygiene Guidelines
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released guidelines for hand hygiene in health care settings. In addition to traditional handwashing with soap and water, the guidelines, available at www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/, recommend the use of alcohol-based handrubs by health care personnel for patient care. CDC is also asking health care facilities to develop and implement systems for measuring improvements in adherence to these hand hygiene recommendations.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has announced all accredited health care organizations should be aware of the CDC guidelines and JCAHO is considering ways in which they can be incorporated into the accreditation process in the future. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)

Hospital Receives Critical Access Designation
An additional Ohio hospital has been designated as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) through the federal program that entitles select small, rural hospitals to Medicare cost-based reimbursement. The designation of Morrow County Hospital in Mt. Gilead as a CAH brings the total in Ohio to 14. A complete list of Ohio CAHs is available at www.ohanet.org/about_oha/cah.asp. (David Hendershot, davidh@ohanet.org

Center for Education
Don’t miss the following educational opportunities offered by the OHA Center for Education. Call 614.22.7624 or visit www.ohanet.org/education/education_programs.asp for more information.

ISO 9000 Introduction and Overview for Health Service Providers, Nov. 22 - Dublin; Jan. 16 - Dublin

Environment of Care, Dec. 10 - Columbus

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

Read today's news clips