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Monday, August 29,
2005 Following last week’s announcement of a new final plan dictating hospital payments from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC), OHA sent a letter on Friday to BWC interim administrator Tina Kielmeyer explaining why the association does not support the new payment structure, which will leave many hospitals with unexpected budget holes next month. The letter noted OHA’s encouragement that BWC took into consideration the association’s earlier comments about an Aug. 2-released proposal, but dismay that the hospital community did not have an opportunity to formally respond to the new plan, released Aug. 24. OHA’s letter is available online at www.ohanet.org/pr/resources/BWC_letter_BWC_082605.pdf.
The final plan
bases Health Partnership Program payments on hospital-specific,
Medicare cost plus 12 percentage points for inpatient admissions and
Medicare cost plus 16 percentage points for emergency department and
other outpatient services, up to the 2005 payment rates. The new
plan goes into effect Oct. 1. (Charles Cataline,
charlesc@ohanet.org; Tiffany Himmelreich,
tiffanyh@ohanet.org)
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 OHA last week submitted comments to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) regarding proposed rules that could result in tens of millions of dollars in additional Medicaid losses for Ohio’s hospitals. One proposal would modify ODJFS’ Medicaid cost-sharing for dually eligible Medicare beneficiaries. In a letter to ODJFS, available online at www.ohanet.org/medicaid/resources/letter_dual_081605.doc, OHA cautioned that while ODJFS has discretion to make this reduction, the estimated $30 million payment cut that would result could not come at a worse time for hospitals. They already face a $112 million Medicaid payment reduction scheduled for Jan. 1, 2006, when ODJFS recalibrates Medicaid DRGs, and an estimated $142 million payment reduction from the freeze in inpatient and outpatient payment rates ordered by the Ohio General Assembly for 2006-2007. OHA asked that the ODJFS reconsider the change and withdraw the proposed amendment.
OHA also shared comments with ODJFS on new and amended rules regarding the implementation of Medicaid co-payments. OHA feels the proposed co-payments will create barriers to patient care and additional processing costs and urged ODJFS to do everything possible to avoid this shifting of responsibility and cost as the rules are being promulgated. These comments are online at www.ohanet.org/medicaid/resources/letter_copay_081705.doc.
For more information on Medicaid in Ohio visit www.ohanet.org/medicaid/. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org) Registration
Open for Ohio Free Clinic Conference 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. 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. Free clinic volunteers, staff and board members, health care access advocates, health care professionals and those interested in starting a free clinic are invited to participate. For registration information, visit www.ohiofreeclinics.org or contact Amy Rohling at 614.221.6494 or arohling@ohiofreeclinics.org. Early bird registration ends Sept. 12 and the final deadline to register is Oct. 1.
Wednesday,
August 31, 2005 National Pollution Prevention (P2) Week is slated for the third week of September, Monday Sept. 19 through Sunday Sept. 25. During this week and on an ongoing basis, businesses, environmental groups and citizens can help save the environment and save money by limiting the amount of waste they produce. P2 Week originated in California in 1992 and gained widespread popularity when it became a national effort in 1995. The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, based in Washington, D.C., and the largest membership association devoted solely to pollution prevention, is advancing pollution prevention awareness through efforts to encourage and promote widespread participation in National Pollution Prevention Week. For more information on P2 Week and for tips on organizing P2 activities, visit www.ohanet.org/p2/ or www.p2.org/p2week/index.cfm. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org) Thursday, September 1, 2005 In conjunction with central and southeast Ohio hospitals, OHA yesterday took messages to that region’s media on hospital financial issues, health care quality and the never-ending debate on the impact of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s privacy regulations on news-gathering. The High-Level Media Briefing was the first of several regional meetings to both educate media representatives on hospitals’ perspectives on these key issues and arm them with story ideas. Attendees also received a comprehensive resource notebook with fact sheets on top health care issues and other resources. The fact sheets are available online in OHA’s revamped News Media Center at www.ohanet.org/media/. Hospitals are encouraged to utilize and share these resources as needed. Hospital executives and public relations representatives were asked attend and invite their local media representatives from print, radio and television outlets to the event, hosted by Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster. OHA will work with the regional allied associations to bring this event to other regions around the state. Stay tuned for details. (Tiffany Himmelreich, tiffanyh@ohanet.org) ODH Opens Low-Risk Provider Cardiac Cath Trial Under the current Ohio Administrative Code, cardiac catheterization laboratories without on-site open heart surgery services are only permitted to perform certain procedures, such as catheterization, on low risk patients but a new trial may give some providers the ability to perform some non-emergent catheterizations.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) currently issues waivers permitting the provision of emergent catheterization on appropriate candidates suffering from heart attack for providers meeting certain conditions, including participation in ODH-approved programs such as Atlantic Cardiovascular Patient Outcomes Research Team (C-Port). ODH released a memorandum last week noting it has issued 10 waivers to providers seeking acceptance since 2001 and three providers have been accepted into C-Port.
Based on the success of emergent catheterization at hospitals without on-site open heart surgery, C-Port is developing a new study to provide data on non-emergent catheterization in these facilities. In the meantime, ODH Director J. Nick Baird will consider waiver requests to permit low-risk providers to perform non-emergent catheterization on appropriate candidates. For more information, contact Christine Kenney at ODH at 614.466.3325 or Christine.Kenney@odh.ohio.gov. (David Engler, davide@ohanet.org)
Friday,
September 2, 2005 Efforts within Ohio and on the federal level are underway to ensure victims of Hurricane Katrina receive adequate medical treatment. In coordination with OHA, the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Citizen Corps and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency are collaborating to implement Ohio's statewide system for responding to disaster events. As part of this system, health care workers interested in volunteering in the devastated coastal states should register at www.serve.ohio.gov. With this repository of potential volunteers, Ohio will organize volunteers and track information such as who goes and when they leave. Simultaneously, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to finalize a process for establishing up to 40 250-bed federal emergency medical shelters to offer basic care to victims. HHS predicts a need for 4,000 health care volunteers to staff these shelters and Ohio’s statewide initiative will respond once HHS announces a formal process. Patients needing more than basic care are being transported to National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) hospitals surrounding the affected area. To date no Ohio NDMS hospital has received victims. Ohio hospitals will soon receive additional information on how to participate in volunteer efforts.
Contact Carol Jacobson, OHA’s director of emergency management, at 614.221.7614 or carolj@ohanet.org with other questions. OHA will provide ongoing information on Ohio hospital volunteer efforts in response to the hurricane. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)
CMS Clarifies CAH Regulations, Interpretive Guidelines Some questions recently have been raised as to whether a hospital with more than one facility on its campus may convert one of those locations to CAH status, while the remaining facility continues to operate under its previous designation. CMS decided that such requests for partial conversion should not be approved. Such a multi-facility hospital is not eligible to convert to a CAH unless the entire campus terminates its provider agreement as a hospital and converts, as a whole, to CAH status. The revisions to the interpretive guidelines include clarification regarding physician supervision of patients admitted by nurse midwives, patient grievance processes, requirements for the availability of emergency laboratory services, and requirements for therapeutic diet prescriptions. Contact CMS representative Marjorie E. Eddinger at 410.786.0375 or Marjorie.eddinger@cms.hhs.gov for information about CAH status. Visit www.ohanet.org/csr/resource/COP%20grievance8_05.pdf for details on the Interpretive Guidelines revisions. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)
Cincinnati-Area Capacity Building Grants Gear Up
The foundation will hold a proposal submission briefing on Monday, Sept. 26, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at the Health Foundation Fund Conference Facility. For more information on the RFP, Capacity Building for Primary Care Provider Organizations Serving Uninsured, Underinsured and Low-Income Populations, visit www.healthfoundation.org/rfp. To attend the briefing, contact Vanessa James at 513.458.6656 by Sept. 15. © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
