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Monday,
May 29, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 This event will increase public awareness of the importance for all adults to have a signed advance directive - a legal document that identifies your health care wishes if you are unable to speak for yourself. It will also make health care providers and attorneys available to Ohioans who want to complete or have questions about living wills and health care powers of attorney The deadline for volunteer forms is July 7. Find more information about the event and fill out a volunteer form at www.ohiobar.org/pubs/insideosba/?articleid=700. Learn more about end of life care at www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/advance_directives.htm#wee. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org)
Before adjourning for the summer recess last Friday, the Ohio legislature took action on several bills with implications for Ohio’s hospitals. The Ohio Senate passed Senate Bill 279, sponsored by Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus), which would limit claims against the Ohio Insurance Guaranty Association (OIGA) to a maximum of $300,000 for injury or death to any one person and would bar all awards to any person whose net worth exceeds $50 million. To cover possible insolvency, all licensed underwriters in Ohio must be insured by the state-based OIGA, which provides protection up to $300,000 per claim. Stiver introduced the bill to change a precedent set by the Ohio Supreme Court that claims may be “stacked” in the case of a single death or injury, creating total potential damages far exceeding $300,000. OHA and the Ohio State Medical Association are neutral on the bill, which has been referred to the House Insurance committee for consideration. Committees in the House and Senate held hearings aimed at reducing the number of uninsured Ohioans. Senate Bill 272, sponsored by Sen. Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon), would establish and operate an Ohio Health Insurance Risk Pool, which would help provide some insurance for those who have difficulty obtaining it, mostly due to pre-existing medical conditions. The bill has received widespread support, and would help Ohio by providing alternative health insurance options for residents as well as reducing the financial burden on hospitals. Concerns remain on how to fund the pool, with options including a tax on hospitals (opposed by OHA) and other types of health care providers. The Ohio Senate passed Senate Bill 126, sponsored by Sen. Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon), which would modify the laws governing county hospitals. The legislation enables county hospitals to become more cost effective and efficient. The flexibility provided by the bill would also help insulate county hospitals from local political battles, assist them in remaining financially viable and better enable the Board of Trustees to govern the hospital. SB 126 now awaits committee assignment in the House. (Bridget Gargan, bridgetg@ohanet.org; Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org) Hospitals Urged to Obtain National
Provider Identifiers Now
Thursday,
June 1, 2006 At its Advisory Board Meeting last week, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation released a proposal to change its reimbursement formula for care provided to injured Ohio workers—the proposal would base reimbursement on Medicare DRG rates plus 15 percent. OHA received no advanced notice of what the proposal would include and OHA will now examine the overall impact of the proposed change on the state’s hospitals, as well as the specific impact on critical access, teaching, disproportionate share and Medicare-dependent hospitals. OHA’s Finance Committee will also review the proposal. (Charles Cataline, charlesc@ohanet.org) OHA Highlights Annual Meeting Logistics With OHA’s Annual Meeting only two weeks away, now is the time to complete final registrations and take note of the following housekeeping items:
For more information on the OHA Annual Meeting or to register online, visit www.ohanet.org/annualmeeting/default.asp. (Joe Ruggles, joer@ohanet.org)
Friday, June 2, 2006 The newly released data, available online at www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthCareConInit/01_Overview.asp#TopOfPage, includes the range of Medicare payments to hospitals and volume of procedures performed for the 30 top diagnosis related groups for every hospital in the country. Ohio has worked toward transparency in health care cost and pricing information for years, most recently through the passage of House Bill 197, which makes additional price and quality information available to consumers through a public Web site of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). Ohio hospitals have been submitting price data for private pay patients to ODH since the late 1980s. CMS’ release adds government payers into the mix. OHA supports the release of cost and quality information to better arm consumers to make informed health care decisions. In 2005 OHA created The Consumer’s Guide to Quality Health Care in Ohio, www.ohanet.org/portal/, to provide consumers an online roadmap to health care information. (Jeff Klingler, jeffk@ohanet.org; John Calender, johnc@ohanet.org) Advisory Opposes FDA Hospital Bed
Dimension Guidance The ASHE/ASHES advisory states that measuring beds will be a “labor intensive process with little or no actual gain in patient safety and may inappropriately divert attention from other high-risk issues diluting already scarce patient safety resources.” Instead, they propose that hospitals assess the needs of each individual patient through clinical evaluation, and if the patient is considered to be at risk then undertake necessary improvements. View the advisory at www.ashe.org/ashe/codes/advisories/pdfs/advbedrail5-06.pdf, and the FDA hospital bed dimension guidance at www.fda.gov/cdrh/beds/guidance/1537.html. (Rick Sites, ricks@ohanet.org) © 2001-2008 OHA. Last updated
January 03, 2008. |
