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Monday, June 13,
2005 Revised projections by the Office of Budget and Management and the Legislative Service Commission mean an apparent surplus of more than $800 million for the 2006-07 biennial budget. OHA advocacy efforts related to preserving budget neutrality in Medicaid rate recalibration have intensified with the revenue projections. In a letter to key legislators, available online at www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/letters/HustedRecalibration.pdf, OHA detailed the rising trend of hospital losses as a result of insufficient fee-for-service Medicaid payments since State Fiscal Year 2000. OHA asks that all hospitals call their state representatives (www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp) and senators (www.senate.state.oh.us/senators/SenateZipSearch.html) immediately to urge them to support the OHA budget-neutral recalibration amendment and ask that they convey support to the members of the conference committee, who include:
Rep. Chuck Calvert, House Finance Chair Sen. John Carey, Senate Finance Chair
It is imperative that these legislators hear from the hospital community as they begin to deliberate on the final version the state budget. Please contact Bridget Gargan with any questions at 614.221.7614 or bridgetg@ohanet.org.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Seeking innovative ways to recruit and retain needed associates, Ohio’s hospitals are taking advantage of opportunities to train entry-level staff members for licensed or credentialed positions. The School at Work (SAW) Building a Career Ladder in Healthcare program helps hospitals invest in current associates while helping to fill other needed positions. SAW partners with hospitals to help associates advance, address workforce shortages and reduce hospital recruitment costs. Through SAW, hospitals implement a career ladder with personalized career and learning plans and create workforce development opportunities such as job shadowing programs and advocacy of internal hiring. Developed from 2002-04 with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration, SAW has been used at more than 125 hospitals in 22 states including the following Ohio organizations: Akron General Medical Center; TriHealth, Cincinnati; Kettering Medical Center; Fayette County Memorial Hospital, Washington Courthouse; Huron Hospital, Cleveland; Euclid Hospital; Marymount Hospital, Garfield Heights; Hillcrest Hospital, Mayfield Heights; and South Pointe Hospital, Warrensville.
SAW can also function as a resource for hospitals applying for a Community-Based Job Training Grant (CBJTG) involving entry-level incumbent workers. For more information on how SAW can strengthen a CBJTG proposal, visit www.schoolatwork.com/info/news.asp or contact Tina Ludwig at tludwig@catalystlearning.com. Learn more about SAW at www.schoolatwork.com.
Final Week to Register for OHA Annual Meeting OHA’s Annual Meeting is set for next Monday and Tuesday, June 20-21, at the Columbus Hilton at Easton and this is the final week to register. With registration costs at $70 for one day or $80 for both days of the meeting for member hospital associates, the event offers 14 day-long or two-day tracks on top health care issues such as finance, patient safety, performance improvement and public relations. The meeting also offers a forum for networking with other hospital associates and peers from across the state.
Several high-profile events will also accompany OHA’s Annual Meeting. OHA’s Recognition Dinner, honoring hospital leaders and supporters as well as the recipient of the Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award, will be held Monday, June 20. This year’s meeting will also feature a Membership/Advocacy Luncheon on June 20 with Rep. Ted Strickland, U.S. Representative for the 6th Ohio Congressional District and Ohio gubernatorial candidate.
For more information on the sessions offered at this year’s meeting, more information on special events, or registration information visit www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/.
Wednesday,
June 15 2005 Scheduled for a vote today in the Ohio House Health and Family Services Committee, legislation that would require hospitals to vaccinate all elderly patients was stalled after OHA raised concerns about the bill. House Bill 257, sponsored by Rep. John Hagan (R-Alliance), would mandate that hospitals offer the flu and pneumonia vaccines to all inpatients age 50 and older. Carol Jacobson, OHA director of emergency management, informed the committee of hospital protocols for vaccinating patients, which are developed according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, and she told the committee the bill could ultimately harm the elderly. Noting that the flu vaccine typically is made available in September, Jacobson said "hundreds of thousands of patients age 50 and older who are admitted to the hospital in June, July and August will be offered and may choose to receive the flu vaccine. They may believe that they are protected for the upcoming flu season when in fact that may not be the case."
Jacobson also informed the committee that hospitals must continue to have flexibility when it comes to protecting patients against potentially deadly infectious disease outbreaks, allowing them to follow CDC guidelines as well as the medical decisions of physicians.
For a copy of OHA's testimony on HB 257, visit www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/testimony/fluvaccine061505.pdf. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org)
Freestanding Center Regulations Up for Review Conducting a five-year rule review, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is seeking comments regarding the licensing regulations for ambulatory, birthing, dialysis, rehabilitation and other freestanding centers. ODH will review all comments and if changes are considered, it will give interested parties the opportunity to provide additional comments before the final submission to the Director of Health. The rules are available on the ODH Final Rules site at www2.odh.ohio.gov/Rules/rulesfinal.html and are titled Licensing--Ambulatory Surgical Facilities and Certain Freestanding Health Care Facilities.
Send all comments before July 7 to: Doug Dils, Ohio Department of Health Division of Quality Assurance; Policy, Projects and Research Section 246 North High Street, Fl 3 P.O. Box 118 Columbus, OH 43216-0118
Thursday, June 16, 2005 At press time, a bi-partisan panel of legislators was still in a legislative fact-finding hearing hosted by Rep. Barbara Sykes (D-Akron) on Ohio hospitals’ tax-exempt status. OHA was among invited speakers, and the testimony of John Callender, OHA senior vice president and CFO, is available online at www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/testimony/tax_exempt061605callender.doc. Service Employees International Union District 1199, which today released a related report available at www.ohanet.org/pr/resources/SEIU_report.pdf, also testified at the hearing among other witnesses. Look for a full report on the hearing in tomorrow HEALTH e-NEWS Plus. Taft Passes Resolutions on Risk Management and Lead Poisoning Gov. Bob Taft recently signed two resolutions calling for health awareness weeks, including Healthcare Risk Management Week, June 20-24, and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, July 17-23.
The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) declared Healthcare Risk Management Week, with the theme, “Make Your Mark,” in celebration of the ways in which risk managers strive to promote safe and effective patient care practices, the preservation of financial resources and the maintenance of safe working environments.
In conjunction with the announcement of Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ohio Department of Health have released screening guidelines promoting steps to prevent childhood lead poisoning, which affected approximately 4,765 Ohio children in 2003. Increased levels of lead in the blood have been found to cause learning disabilities, hearing loss, and other physical and mental development problems.
These efforts encourage Ohioans to learn about the detection and prevention of lead poisoning in keeping children safe and healthy. For more information on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, contact John G. Belt at 614.728.9454 or jbelt@odh.ohio.gov.
OAFC Offers Ohio Free Clinic Conference The Ohio Association of Free Clinics (OAFC) is hosting the Sixth Annual Ohio Free Clinic Conference Oct. 9-11 at the Conference Center at Northpointe in Columbus. The conference, Called to Service: Elevating Health, Enriching Lives, will focus on risk management, best practices, quality improvement and health care access.
The workshops and plenary sessions will provide health care workers and volunteers an opportunity to meet and discuss strategies for starting free clinics and enhancing their service to at-risk individuals. The Free Clinic Conference is open to free clinic volunteers, board members, health care access advocates, health care professionals and others starting free clinics.
The mission of the OAFC is to advocate for high quality health service for the underserved. Hospitals are often leaders, supporters and partners of free clinics that rely on volunteers, including physicians and nurses, to serve the uninsured and the poor.
For registration information, visit www.ohiofreeclinics.org or contact Amy Rohling at 614.221.6494 or arohling@ohiofreeclinics.org.
Friday,
June 17, 2005 Yesterday a panel of legislators took part in a legislative fact-finding hearing hosted by Rep. Barbara Sykes (D-Akron) on Ohio hospitals’ tax-exempt status. The hearing was held in conjunction with the release of a report by the Service Employees International Union District 1199 (SEIU)—Crossing the Line: Are Hospitals Truly Charitable Institutions or Just Big Businesses that Don’t Pay Taxes?— which questions how hospitals care for the uninsured. OHA Senior Vice President John Callender testified at the hearing on behalf of Ohio’s hospitals, pointing out many misleading dollar figures in the SEIU report and questioning SEIU’s definitions of debt and charity. According to SEIU, hospitals spent approximately $219 million in charitable spending in 2003, but Callender testified the actual amount was closer to $1 billion in care for which hospitals were not reimbursed. Ohio University Professor Deborah Thorne, co-author of a recent Harvard study on personal bankruptcy and medical debt, Minnesota Solicitor General Lori Swanson and SEIU representative Scott Courtney testified in favor of legislation regulating hospital charges to uninsured Ohioans, while Policy Matters Ohio Representative Zach Schiller testified in favor of local governments being allowed to charge tax-exempt organizations fees in lieu of taxes. The report and hearing come at a time when non-profit hospitals’ tax exemptions are under increasing scrutiny at both the state and federal levels. Rep. Sykes recently introduced an amendment to the state budget that would have limited the prices hospitals could charge uninsured and underinsured Ohioans, following a previous SEIU report claiming uninsured and underinsured Ohioans are often expected to pay more than twice as much as insured hospital patients. To view Callender’s full testimony, visit www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/testimony/tax_exempt061605callender.doc and the complete SEIU report is available online at www.ohanet.org/pr/resources/SEIU_report.pdf.
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January 03, 2008. |
