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Monday, April 12, 2004
Accompanied by representatives from the medical community, the legislature and others, Gov. Bob Taft today signed legislation allowing for the creation of a medical liability underwriting association (MLUA) if the medical malpractice market deteriorates to a level that threatens Ohioans access to care.
House Bill 282, sponsored by Rep. Larry Flowers (R -Canal Winchester), gives the Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) the authority to revive the former Joint Underwriting Authority as the MLUA. MLUA would issue policies for physicians meeting minimum eligibility and underwriting standards. It would address only availability, not affordability of coverage. The Ohio Medical Malpractice Commission encouraged passage of this legislation as part of its March report.
Taft also outlined a five-point plan to stabilize Ohio’s medical malpractice insurance market. The plan includes:
For more information on Ohio’s medical malpractice market, visit www.ohanet.org/med-mal/. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)
Natural Gas Program Gets a Facelift
OHA invites hospitals to participate in OHA’s restructuring of its
natural gas purchasing program under the OHA Energy Committee. OHA is
currently requesting proposals from suppliers in the Ohio market.
Suppliers have until May 7 to reply. Participating hospitals will be
asked to pick a supplier from the proposals mid-May. OHA expects to have
a new contract in place by July 1 for hospital supply contracts that
renew on or after that date.
Hospitals interested in participating in the program should complete a participation agreement form and return it to OHA as soon as possible. The participation form is available in OHA’s new Energy section of its Web site (www.ohanet.org/energy/), along with information about group purchasing for electricity. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
The national Quality Initiative, which kicked off last year with the collection of 10 key measures from participating hospitals nationwide, has added 12 new measures of care. The national voluntary reporting initiative has the goal of publishing the additional hospital data by spring 2005.
Beginning with data for patients admitted during the second quarter of 2004, hospitals are asked to share data on the seven following measures:
Heart AttackHeart Failure
Pneumonia
The Quality Initiative asks hospitals to submit data on the following five measures for patients admitted during the third quarter of 2004:
Pneumonia
Surgical Infections
For more information, view an American Hospital Association Quality
Advisory at www.aha.org
under "What's New." (Rosalie Weakland,
rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Wednesday,
April 14, 2004
Friends of Ohio Hospitals Site Gets Facelift
The Web site of Friends of Ohio Hospitals, the political action
committee (PAC) of OHA, has a fresh face on the Web for its 2004
campaign. The PAC collects contributions from individuals in Ohio's
hospital community to support state and federal lawmakers and other
elected officials with responsible health care platforms. It gives
Ohio's hospitals a voice in the legislative arena, allowing them to be
leaders in public policymaking.
The new Web site contains information on the Ohio Supreme Court races, including the PAC's endorsements for 2004 as well as information for supporters of hospitals on contributing, running a campaign and holding fundraisers. Visit the new site at www.friendsofohiohospitals.org/ to check out the new look and additional resources. (Stacey Walton, staceyw@ohanet.org)
HIPAA Turns One
Although health care organizations have been required to comply with the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy
rules for one year today, hospitals continue to encounter gray areas in
the federal law dictating patient privacy. Challenges since the April
14, 2003 compliance date include paperwork burdens related to tracking
disclosures and business associate agreements, according to a recent
survey of the American Health Information Management Association. More
information about the HIPAA privacy regulations is available in an
OHA-developed media guide online at
www.ohanet.org/media/default.htm#HIPAA or from the HIPAA Joint
Privacy Information Center at
www.bricker.com/hipaa/.
Thursday,
April 15, 2004
Voters across Ohio and the nation are calling on candidates in this fall’s elections to address their health care concerns—namely medical malpractice reform. Ohioans' concerns about med mal will be especially relevant in the November elections for three Supreme Court justices, since they are expected to decide the fate of several tort reform laws recently enacted by the Ohio General Assembly.
A vast majority of Ohio voters, 73 percent, strongly support medical liability reform, according to a new poll of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Nationally, 71 percent of Americans similarly favor common-sense limits on non-economic damages, according to another survey of the Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA).
Of Americans polled by HCLA, 72 percent think health care expenses are being driven up by the rising cost of medical liability lawsuits. An overwhelming 82 percent of Americans tag excessive litigation as a threat to their access to care and 73 percent believe U.S. Congress should enact reforms to limit payments to trial lawyers from medical liability claims.
In the AHIP poll, Ohioans cited medical malpractice reform as one of the top issues political candidates should address, along with reducing medical errors, helping the uninsured get coverage, empowering consumers with information about doctors and hospitals, and using medical evidence to improve quality.
Find the HCLA survey results at www.hcla.org and the AHIP survey results at www.aahp.org/template.cfm under “News.”
For more information about OHA’s voter education campaign surrounding Ohio’s medical liability crisis, visit www.ohanet.org/CareCampaign/.
Celebrating Ohio’s Health Care Heroes
Ohio's 230,000 health care workers are
the hallmark of the health care community’s success. Join OHA in
honoring a handful of those caregivers at the 2004 OHA Recognition
Dinner June 14. The event will honor all 71 nominees for, and the
ultimate recipient of, the Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the
Year award in addition to recipients of several other prestigious OHA
awards. Four finalists and the ultimate recipient of the Dyckes award
will be named the night of the event.
The event kicks off with a welcome reception and cash bar at 5 p.m. followed by dinner at 6 p.m. The featured speaker is Jody Dallas, an Ashland resident and heart patient with an uplifting thank you to Ohio’s caregivers. Presentation of the awards will follow dinner. Andrea Cambern, health reporter at WBNS 10TV Columbus, will emcee the event, which is sponsored in part by the ARAMARK Corporation.
Register and find more information about the OHA Recognition Dinner at www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/Awards/. The complete OHA Annual Meeting program is now available at www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/. The program, detailing the over 70 sessions, keynote speakers and ticketed meal functions, was also mailed to hospitals last week. The OHA Annual Meeting is June 14-15 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. (Tiffany Himmelreich, tiffanyh@ohanet.org)
Survey Shows Med Mal Crisis May Send Docs
Packing
The Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA) today released the results of
a survey of Ohio physicians stating 34 percent expect to close their
practices within the next two years if medical liability insurance (MLI)
costs continue to rise. As a growing number of physicians face leaving
Ohio, retiring or closing their practices, access to quality health care
services for Ohioans could be at risk. For more survey results, view the
OSMA news release at
www.osma.org/news/SURVEY-REVEALS.cfm.
Friday,
April 16, 2004
Ohio’s hospitals give back to their community in many unique ways, through such avenues as the exceptional volunteer efforts of health care workers, innovative programs and educational opportunities and technology that brings patients and physicians into direct contact.
David Blom, president and CEO of OhioHealth, was appointed chairperson of the 2004 American Heart Gala. This event, scheduled for May 22, increases awareness of cardiovascular disease and benefits the research and educational programs of the American Heart Association, Columbus Metro.
Jeff Leonard, director of rehabilitation and cardiopulmonary services at Ashtabula County Medical Center, was named Campaign Volunteer of the Year for his work as the hospital’s 2004 United Way Project Leader. He was recognized at the United Way of Ashtabula County’s Annual Award Dinner in March.
The March edition of T+D magazine, published by the American Society for Training & Development, recognized Blanchard Valley Health Association for its Leaders for Tomorrow program. Through the program, participants complete eight hours of study per week for eight weeks to learn management skills and other factors key to leadership. They then join Action Learning Groups, working for a year on a pre-approved project.
The Consumer Directed Health Care Conference recently honored e-Cleveland Clinic for the best technology facilitating e-health services for the patient/physician relationship. (Mary Sterenberg, marys@ohanet.org)