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Monday, April 5, 2004
Pulmonary Rehab Funding Available
OHA’s Foundation for Healthy Communities is soliciting grant proposals to fund hospital pulmonary rehabilitation programs using national tobacco settlement funding. The request for proposal, a fact sheet, proposal tips and other materials are available at www.ohanet.org/HealthyCommunities/tobacco/applytobacco.htm. Applications must be postmarked by May 14 and grants will be awarded in August.

OHA member hospitals may apply for new or renewal funds for the grant period Oct. 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005. Hospitals applying for new pulmonary rehabilitation funds must have an existing program and be able to ensure sufficient uninsured participants who would be tracked separately from total patients. Hospitals that received funding from the 2003-04 Ohio Public Health Priorities Trust Fund in the Fall 2002 or Spring 2003 are eligible for renewal funds if all previous funding is depleted or will be by June 30, 2004. New and renewal funds must be spent on delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation services to uninsured and underserved chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. The maximum grant will be $15,000, with 2 percent allowed for administrative expenses. Next week the foundation will mail hospitals a request for proposals to fund hospital services for uninsured pregnant women and children. Stay tuned for details. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org

In Other News…
§ The March edition of the OHA Center for Education’s MedEd News newsletter is online, featuring information on upcoming education seminars and other education-related topics (http://www.ohanet.org/MedEdNews/default.asp)
§ The April edition of Placement, OHA’s listing of employment opportunities at member hospitals, is online (http://www.ohanet.org/Placement/)

Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Med Mal Cancellation of Policies Amendment Adopted by Senate
Senate Bill 187, sponsored by Senator Scott Nein (R-Middletown), was passed by the Senate last week. The bill, dealing with annuities, included an amendment proposed by the Ohio Department of Insurance, which sets forth guidelines for notification of termination of medical malpractice insurance.

The language will require medical malpractice insurers to notify the department 60 days in advance of cancellation of policies. It requires 120 days advance notice for dropping specialty or regional insurance and it sets a 180-day notice if an insurer plans to leave Ohio. SB 187 hearings will resume in the House later this month.

To view the bill visit www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/bills/sb187.pdf. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

Medical Board Launches Licensure Info Site
The State of Ohio Medical Board is building a more user-friendly way to search for licensing information about the state's health care professionals. A new searchable database, online at http://license.ohio.gov/lookup/default.asp, displays more statuses and search options. Any formal action information, if it exists, will be displayed on the profile page without having to access another link and copies of documents associated with board formal actions are still available by clicking the link at the bottom of the profile page. Information will also be available on the status of applicants and the holders of training certificates. In addition, while the data on the Board's site previously was updated once each week, all data will now update in real time.

The new site currently does not have batch verification, and users must verify licensure by entering each licensee individually. The board recognizes the importance of batch verification for hospitals and third-party payers, and plans to have some type of comparable system available again within six to eight weeks. The board will also continue to pursue enhancements to the new system to better facilitate the verification process.

More information is available at http://med.ohio.gov/profileandstatus.htm and updates will be posted on the board's Web site at http://med.ohio.gov/. The new database can also be accessed from the board's Web site by clicking "Licensee Profile and Status" under "Information for Consumers." (Jean Scholz, jeans@ohanet.org)

Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Buckeye State Avoids Medicaid Cuts
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has announced that next year’s projected cuts to the Medicaid program will be offset by larger-than-expected reimbursements from the federal government, preserving the program’s funding and eligibility for state fiscal year 2005.

Gov. Bob Taft had charged ODJFS with saving $50 million in Medicaid costs for 2005 as part of a plan to shave nearly $620 million in state spending over the last 16 months of the 2004-2005 biennial budget.

A total of $31 million for state fiscal year 2005 will come from an increase in matching funds from the federal government of 59.68 percent, originally estimated at 59.23 percent. The increase is effective Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year. The federal match is determined annually by a formula comparing a state’s average per capita income with the national average. The remaining $20 million will come from billing the federal government for benefits already granted to recipients of the state’s Disability Assistance Medical program who were later found to be eligible for Medicaid. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)

Thursday, April 8, 2004
Extra! Extra!
Read All About OHA’s Annual Meeting
OHA’s 2004 Annual Meeting program is now online, offering information on the more than 70 educational sessions and other activities that will be a part of this year’s annual meeting on June 14-15 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Hospital staff members and others are encouraged to register online at www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/ or with the form included in the hard copy of the program OHA will mail to hospitals at the start of next week.

This year’s meeting includes sessions in the following areas: access to care, compliance, disaster preparedness, environment of care, finance, FutureThink, grantwriting, leadership and governance, organizational development, patient safety, patient satisfaction, performance improvement, physician recruitment, public relations, risk management, and workforce.

Visit www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/ for general registration information as well as details on ticketed events such as the Recognition Dinner on June 14, an event recognizing some of Ohio’s finest health care providers. The site also offers information about the meeting’s keynote speakers, continuing education opportunities and participating exhibitors. For additional questions, contact the OHA Center for Education at 614.221.7614.

U.S. Senate Kills Med Mal Bill
The U.S. Senate yesterday voted down the second attempt at federal medical malpractice reform this year. In a 49-48 vote, the “Pregnancy and Trauma Care Access Protection Act of 2004” failed to receive the 60 votes needed to proceed to a final Senate vote. The bill applied to obstetrical and gynecological as well as emergency and trauma services, where access is in serious jeopardy due to skyrocketing liability costs. S. 2207, sponsored by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), is a narrower version of general medical liability legislation that stalled in the Senate last year and is similar to the recently stalled “Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies Access to Care Act,” voted down by the Senate earlier this year.

The legislation would have capped non-economic damages at $250,000 and limited punitive damages to the larger of $250,000 or twice the amount of economic damages awarded, invoked proportional liability and capped attorney’s contingency fees. OHA continues to support both state and federal medical malpractice reform legislation. For more information on legislation related to the medical malpractice crisis, visit www.ohanet.org/med-mal/legislation/. (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

Hospital Help Needed on Med Mal
The Ohio Osteopathic Association (OOA) is collecting data to share with state legislators and other policymakers to clearly demonstrate how patient access to health care is jeopardized by Ohio’s professional liability insurance crisis. Aggregate data collected through the OOA Professional Liability Insurance Crisis Survey will be publicized and broken down by state legislative districts.

OHA encourages hospitals to share this survey, available at www.ooanet.org/pdf/ooaplicrisissurvey.pdf, with osteopathic doctors and invite them to complete it. The survey should be faxed to the OOA at 614.294.0457 by April 16. The Ohio State Medical Association is conducting a similar survey for physicians. It can be found at www.osma.org/news/PLI-SURVEY.cfm.

OHA is also interested in learning how the crisis is affecting hospital services. Please e-mail your hospital’s story to OHA at hospitals_care@ohanet.org. (Mary Yost, maryy@ohanet.org)

Friday, April 9, 2004
Guidelines for Receiving Full Medicare Update Clarified
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently posted clarification regarding the requirements hospitals must meet to qualify for a full Medicare Annual Payment Update. Regardless of participation with the American Hospital Association’s Quality Initiative, all hospitals seeking a full update must submit a new notification of participation, sign up for the QNet Exchange and ensure data is submitted on time. Hospitals using a vendor to submit data should also authorize the vendor to submit all three measurement sets to the QNet. OHA will publish a bulletin next week with additional information on the clarified requirements and all necessary forms.

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 requires that hospitals receiving Medicare funding under the acute care inpatient prospective payment system submit quality data on 10 key measures to receive a full update. These 10 measures correspond with the initial 10 being collected and shared with the public through the national Voluntary Hospital Reporting Initiative. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)

Bioprep Money to Help Hospitals
Ohio hospitals will receive nearly $10 million in bioterrorism preparation funds following this week’s Controlling Board approval of a contract between the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and OHA. Funneled through OHA’s Research and Educational Foundation, Ohio hospitals will receive $9.5 million statewide to implement new procedures to prepare for a possible bioterrorism event.

The funds will be used to design and implement a statewide bed tracking system, standardize overhead emergency codes to ensure hospitals across the state use the same codes, purchase and install Multi Agency Radio Communication System (MARCS) 800 MHz radios, as well as provide for development of surge capacity plans to house an influx of patients in case of an event. The funds will also be used to offer numerous educational initiatives related to a bioharazdous event. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)

OHA Center for Education
Don’t miss the following educational opportunities offered by the OHA Center for Education. For more information, call 614.221.7614 or visit http://www.ohanet.org/education/education_programs.asp.

HIPAA Insurance Reform Security Standards April 26, Villa Milano, Columbus
Hospital Billing and Collection Practices: Current Issues and Threats to Tax Exemption, April 27, Villa Milano, Columbus