Hospital updates:

·         Hospitals will receive a 3.3% Medicaid inpatient update starting Jan. 1, 2008, and a 2.9% update Jan. 1, 2009.

·         Children’s hospitals will receive $30 million in state and federal dollars as the result of changes in payment ratios for 2008-2009.

Medicaid expansions:

·         Children with family incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level are covered under Medicaid when parents pay the premiums, up from 200 percent.

·         Disabled children or children with pre-existing conditions in families above 300 percent of poverty are eligible for a Medicaid “buy-in” option.

·         Foster children between 18 and 21 years of age are now eligible to maintain Medicaid benefits.

·         The addition of a Medicaid Buy-In for Workers with Disabilities Program will serve an estimated 7,300 Ohioans in 2008-2009.

Vetoes of interest to hospitals:

·         Funding for the Ohio Department of Health to create a Web site publicly displaying the quality data submitted by hospitals. The governor directed the department to create the Web site using current staff and internal resources.

·         A provision specifying payment standards for Medicaid managed care organization rates.

·         Limitations on restrictions of coverage of mental health drugs.

The state legislature has adjourned for summer recess. (Bridget Gargan)

U.S. Senate Rejects Immigration Bill

The U.S. Senate last week rejected an immigration reform bill that would have made it more difficult for foreign nurses and physician residents to work in the U.S. S. 1639, sponsored by Ted Kennedy (D-MA) was aimed at putting professionals and individuals with advanced degree on a fast track to U.S. citizenship, but one of the bill’s unintended consequences was putting nurses and other health care workers at a disadvantage in earning citizenship. Hospital advocates, who worked to secure improvements for health care workers in the immigration bill, plan to continue educating legislators on the need to facilitate foreign worker recruitment in the face of continued shortages. 

Both chambers of Congress are on recess this week to conduct district activities and observe Independence Day. Federal lawmakers are expected to take up S-CHIP reauthorization and Medicare physician payment improvements upon their return July 9.  (Jonathan Archey, jonathana@ohanet.org)

Hospitals’ Heartbeat
A 2007 nominee for the Albert E. Dyckes Health Care Worker of the Year Award

Douglas Boston, RN

Surgical Nurse

Flower Hospital

Sylvania

View photo

A look inside Doug’s nomination -

For more than eight years, Doug has worked as a surgical nurse at Flower Hospital. He is much more at home working with patients and fellow staff members than talking about his amazing gift of saving a co-worker's spouse by donating a kidney. And while Doug has received a fair amount of attention because of the organ transplant, it is only one of many ways Doug has given back to the hospital and the community at large. Both at work and at home, he embraces Flower Hospital's values with care and compassion. Doug is an outstanding ambassador for ProMedica Health System and has been nominated for this award by the entire ProMedica Central Region, which includes Flower Hospital, The Toledo Hospital and Toledo Children's Hospital.
 

Friday, July 6, 2007

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Updates Flu Recommendations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) last week released its 2007 recommendations with new and updated information. The report recommends health care facilities consider the level of vaccination coverage among health care personnel to be one measure of a patient safety quality program and implement policies to encourage vaccinations among health care personnel.

The updated recommendations also stress the importance of administering two doses of vaccine to children between the ages of 6 months and 8 years who have not been vaccinated previously or who received only one dose in their first year of vaccination. The report highlights a previous recommendation that all people who want to reduce the risk of becoming ill with influenza or of transmitting influenza to others should be vaccinated and that immunization providers should offer influenza vaccines and schedule immunization clinics through the flu season. ACIP expects more than 100 million doses of flu vaccine to be available in the U.S. during the 2007-2008 season, but recommends health care providers develop plans in case the supply is delayed or reduced. The full report is available on the Center for Disease Control Web site. For more flu vaccination information, visit OHA’s Web site. (Carol Jacobson, carolj@ohanet.org)