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Monday, June 20,
2005 The House-Senate conference committee wrapped up discussions on the biennial budget bill last night, and the House and Senate floor votes are scheduled for tomorrow. Through OHA’s efforts, the budget does not include taxes on captives or hospital surplus lines of insurance for medical liability policies. Hospitals contracting as Medicaid managed care providers by Jan. 1, 2006, will be exempt from provisions requiring the mandatory acceptance of non-contracting fee-for-service. Hospitals operating under a managed care contract also will not risk losing general medical education dollars. OHA’s amendment to increase the requirement for surety bonds from $1 million to $3 million for Medicaid managed care plans to reduce potential liability for hospitals was also included, and the final budget has language harmonizing state and federal code related to critical access hospitals to allow them to maintain their critical access status. The final budget partially restores the Disability Medical Assistance program and fully restores vision coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Language requiring
mandatory contracting for the aged, blind and disabled population
was included, but with a host of exclusions. Significant adjustments
were also made to the nursing home formula, including a payment
freeze. Gov. Bob Taft must sign a new budget by June 30 and OHA
intends to continue efforts to modify the recalibration process
through the administrative process. (Bridget Gargan,
bridgetg@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, June 21, 2005 Hospital caregivers became the front page story last night as 66 hospital employees were honored for being nominated for this year’s Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award, presented by OHA to a hospital associate who reflects the values and ideals of Ohio’s health care facilities, goes above and beyond the call of duty, gives back to the community and has overcome odds to succeed. The 2005 recipient of the Health Care Worker of the Year Award is Sharlene Wilson, a rehabilitation aide at The Toledo Hospital. On numerous occasions, Sharlene has used her own money to purchase clothing or shoes for patients and she coordinates donations of clothing and furniture to assist patients in need. She volunteers at local shelters for battered women and homeless men and as a religious education teacher for children aged 6-12 at her church. Other finalists included: Betty Barnes, shift lead for nutritional services, Berger Health System, Circleville; Cathy Warner, RN, registered nurse, Fairfield Medical Center, Lancaster; Loretta McCollum, RN, CDE, registered nurse and certified diabetes educator, Licking Memorial Hospital, Newark; Carol Powell, RN, BSN, FNE, CEN, EMT-P, emergency room and Developing Options for Violent Emergencies (DOVE) nurse, Saint Thomas Medical Center, Akron. Photos and a complete list of nominees for the Health Care Worker of the Year award are available online at www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/Awards/dyckes/nominees.htm.
OHA
also presented several health care leadership awards honoring
leaders in Ohio health care: For more information, view a related news release at http://www.ohanet.org/media/news_release/2005/awards062105.htm.
JCARR Approves HCAP Rules
Wednesday,
June 22, 2005 The national partnership promoting SCIP, including the American Hospital Association (AHA), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, believes the program could reduce these complications by 25 percent over the next five years, and its goal is to enroll every eligible American hospital in SCIP. The adoption of SCIP by the more than 3,000 hospitals in America would also send a strong message to the public and government about hospitals’ shared commitment to actively improving surgical care. SCIP will be officially launched in July at the AHA/Health Forum Leadership Summit in San Diego, and information and sign up materials will be available to hospitals at this time. For more information on SCIP, call AHA’s Member Relations office at 1.800.424.4301, or visit www.medqic.org/scip/scip_homepage.html. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org) Thursday, June 23, 2005 With the House-Senate conference committee wrapping up budget discussions Sunday night and the General Assembly pushing the bill through Tuesday, the $51.2 billion biennium budget now heads to the desk of Gov. Bob Taft, who must sign the legislation by the end of the month. In addition to signing the bill, the governor will also line item veto certain provisions. As the legislation awaits the governor's signature, OHA intends to continue efforts to modify the recalibration process through the administrative process. For more information on items in the budget impacting Ohio's hospitals, or those items OHA was successful in adding to or deleting from the budget, visit www.ohanet.org/healthenews/default.asp#Monday. OHA will soon release a member bulletin with complete information on all provisions impacting hospitals and health care in Ohio.
OHA thanks all hospital executives and government affairs personnel who contributed to OHA’s advocacy efforts related to the state budget by testifying, attending meetings, writing letters and making calls. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org)
Friday,
June 24, 2005 As the state budget reaches completion, the conference committee passed a budget bill late Sunday night that unexpectedly takes $216 million intended for smoking prevention programs and allocates it instead to the building and construction of schools. Mike Renner, executive director of the Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation (TUPCF) responded: “It is unfathomable in a state budget with a surplus that the Ohio Legislature has not allocated one penny of nearly $216 million in tobacco settlement dollars coming in the next two years—and intended for TUPCF—to stop the leading cause of preventable death in Ohio. Since 2002, Ohio General Assemblies have now taken $568 million of tobacco settlement dollars meant for tobacco prevention to balance the state budget.” TUPCF works to reduce the use of tobacco in Ohio, and since the organization’s inception the state has dropped from fourth to 11 in the nation for adult smoking prevalence. For more information on TUPCF, visit www.standohio.org. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org) © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
