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NHA offers testimony at recent bill hearings
- Support of LB 255 – Change the Nebraska Wage Payment and Collection Act
- Support of LB 271 - Change fringe benefit provisions under the Nebraska Wage Payment and Collection Act
- Support for LB 373
– Provide for inadmissibility of apologies regarding medical care as evidence.
- Support for LB 399
- Adopt the Perfusion Practice Act
- Support for LB 426 – Adopt the Pharmacy Technician Act
- Support for LB 514 – Provide an income tax credit for employer contributions to employee long-term care insurance
- Support for LB 531 – Provide tax credits for employers providing health insurance
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- Letter
sent to Senator Janssen by Michael Leibert, President/CEO, Fremont Area Medical Center
- Letter
sent to Senator Janssen by Ron Cork, President/CEO, Avera St. Anthony’s Hospital
- Oppose LB 534 – Change provisions relating to urban storm water drainage
- Support for LB 577
– Provide for a reimbursement for generic prescriptions
NHA hosts luncheon for HHS
NHA hosted a luncheon for the Health and Human Services Committee members and staff on Wednesday, February 7, at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel. NHA provided guests with a copy of the Nebraska Hospitals 2006 Community Benefits Report and a sample Health Economic Profile by County. Also, NHA shared information of Nebraska’s hospitals’ position on legislation regarding the following:
- Nebraska Coalition for Patient Safety
- Public Reporting of Quality and Pricing Information
- Medicaid budget (adequacy of payment)
- Smoking ban and tobacco free workplaces
- Motorcycle helmet repeal
- Carrying concealed weapons in hospitals
Docs' 'sorry' wouldn't be admission of guilt
LINCOLN - "I'm sorry I screwed up" at a patient's bedside couldn't be interpreted as "I'm liable" in a Nebraska courtroom if state senators adopt a bill discussed Wednesday at the Capitol.
The proposed "I'm sorry" legislation, Legislative Bill 373, would make a health care provider's expression of apology, fault, sympathy or compassion after a bad medical outcome inadmissible as evidence of liability in a malpractice case.
At a hearing before the Legislature's Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Omaha ophthalmologist and attorney Dr. Peter Whitted called the bill "patient safety legislation." He said it would encourage more doctors to talk to their patients when things go wrong.
"The goal is to permit physicians to empathize with their patients and say to them, 'I'm truly sorry that that happened' and not have it used against them in court," said Dr. Rowen Zetterman, president of the medical association and chief of staff at Omaha's VA Medical Center.
But not everyone is cheering the bill, drafted by the Nebraska Medical Association and introduced last month by Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln.
"This is a 'protect the doctor' bill rather than 'heal the patient,' because the doctor can do all of these things without the bill," said Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a member of the committee.
Christopher Welsh of the Nebraska Association of Trial Lawyers and Kurt Brashear, of the Nebraska State Bar Association both expressed concerns.
Welsh said his association didn't object to keeping a doctor's apology out of court but does object to keeping out an admission of fault.
Twenty-nine states have adopted laws barring apologies as admissions of liability in court. But Welsh said some "I'm sorry" laws allow admission of fault as evidence.
— Read the complete Omaha World Herald article by Nichole Aksamit and Elizabeth Ahlin
online.
Statewide smoking ban lacks a few votes
The bill that would ban smoking across the state in all public buildings — including bars and restaurants — is on a fast track.
It will likely see first-round debate by the middle of next week after being sent out of committee Thursday.
— Click
here to read the complete story.
Anti-abortion activists call for cloning ban
Anti-abortion activists in the state on Tuesday threw their weight behind a legislative bill that would ban human cloning.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center currently doesn’t clone human embryos for reproductive purposes or to harvest stem cells for research on how to cure diseases, and there is a university wide policy against doing so. That policy has the same provisions as the proposed ban introduced to the Legislature.
But Greg Schleppenbach of the Nebraska Catholic Conference said during a Capitol news conference that a statutory ban is needed to prevent the practice in the future. The bill (LB700) that would ban human cloning for both research and reproductive purposes was introduced by Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial and has not yet been debated by the Legislature.
A majority of state senators co-signed the bill, an indication that passage is likely.
— Read the complete Associated Press story online.
139 Nebraskans now OK’d to conceal weapons
One month after Nebraska started accepting applications for permits to carry concealed weapons, 139 people across the state have the permits.
How that may change traffic stops for local law enforcement hasn’t become clear just yet.
“It’s still relatively new for everybody,” said Jim Peschong, assistant chief of the Lincoln Police Department.
He said officers definitely are aware Nebraska’s Concealed Handgun Permit Law went into effect Jan. 3. Officers have to be much more aware now that people they stop for normal traffic issues could end up having firearms.
Granted, police always have that concern in the back of their minds, he said, but now it’s different.
“Now you’ve got a whole different class of people that may be carrying them.”
Concealed weapon permit holders who get stopped are required to inform officers if they have their weapon concealed.
— Read the complete Lincoln Journal Star story by Lori Pilger online.
Bill seeks to limit drug companies’ influence
Omaha physician Roger Kobayashi knows the seductive practices of drug reps, who try to win converts to their company’s drugs with the gifts they give.
Through the years, he’s been the “recipient of pharmaceutical attention,” including free meals, concerts at Carnegie Hall and research grants.
Pharmaceutical companies have paid him to speak in Europe and Hawaii. They’ve taken him golfing, to sporting events. He’s even had “dynamic, blue-eyed blondes cozy up to a wrinkled old prune like me,” the doctor said in written testimony to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
The gifts have gotten much more expensive than the leather doctor bag filled with equipment that Eli Lilly wanted to give all incoming freshman when he started medical school 37 years ago.
Kobayashi no longer sees drug reps. He has refused to give lectures for drug companies and has stopped doing “research” that was conducted primarily to position a company’s product.
But it hasn’t been easy. Because drug reps are able to get information about physician’s prescribing habits, he is still the target of pharmaceutical salespeople who want to change his prescribing habits.
Kobayashi says he learned about the specifics of this practice years ago when a company accidentally sent him its “dossier” on a group of physicians’ prescribing practices and how influential these physicians were.
The Omaha doctor, an immunologist and allergist, spoke in support of a bill (LB451) that would prohibit pharmacies from selling data to drug companies showing what doctors were prescribing.
Kobayashi described the practice as “abuse of physician confidentiality and privacy,” and said it is used as a tool for companies to target doctors who are not prescribing their drugs. It has been used to influence doctors to prescribe medicines that patients might not need, he told the committee.
But much of his testimony could have been used to support another bill (LB675) that would require pharmaceutical companies to report all gifts above $25 to doctors and hospitals.
Both bills were supported by the AARP of Nebraska as ways to curb rising drug costs. Both were opposed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, representing the pharmaceutical industry.
— Read the complete Lincoln Journal Star article by Nancy Hicks online.
Bills focus on paid time off
LINCOLN - Nebraska employers no longer will be able to offer workers sick leave or personal time off if the Legislature doesn't clarify a recent State Supreme Court ruling on fringe benefits, lawmakers were told Monday.
"With the uncertainty, you're going to see (benefit) plans amended, and the amendments won't be to the benefit of employees," said Tom Jeffers, a Lincoln attorney who represents farmers' cooperatives.
"It will be the end of paid time off programs," Jeffers told the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee.
In October, the Supreme Court ruled that unused vacation time must be paid when an employee leaves a job. Some employers say the ruling left unclear whether unused personal leave or sick leave also must be paid upon a worker's departure.
Last month, based on the ruling, four former employees of the Douglas County Attorneys' Office claimed that they were owed a combined $90,000 for unused sick leave.
Two state senators, Mike Friend of Omaha and Kent Rogert of Tekamah, have proposed bills to address the issue.
Friend's Legislative Bill 271 would allow employers to dictate policy on whether they will pay for unused vacation, sick leave or other time off when an employee departs.
Rogert, with LB 255, would allow employers and employees to negotiate whether the leave will be paid.
Read the complete Omaha World Herald article by Leslie Reed online.
Hearing schedule for Feb. 12-16
Monday, February 12
LB 77 (Business and Labor) Change workers’ compensation disability compensation provisions
LB 222 (Business and Labor) Provide workers’ compensation benefits for permanent disfigurement or scarring
LB 401 (Transportation) Provide for notations on drivers’ licenses and state identification cards regarding advance medical directives
LB 462 (Business and Labor) Change workers’ compensation provisions covering disability payments during vocational rehabilitation
LB 588 (Business and Labor) Change workers’ compensation hospital fee schedule and payment of providers
Wednesday, February 14
LB 236 (HHS) Provide requirements for in-home personal care services workers
LB 300 (Government) Create the State Work Incentive Program
LB 397 (HHS) Adopt the In-Home Personal Care Services Act
LB 482 (HHS) Provide for the coverage of qualifying autism services under the Medical Assistance Act
LB 523 (HHS) Adopt the Quality Home Care Act
LB 555 (HHS) Change provisions relating to home- and community-based services
Thursday, February 15
LB 107 (Judiciary) Create a deputy public counsel for institutions and facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services
LB 246 (Judiciary) Provide requirements for coroners relating to the procurement of anatomical gifts and provide for civil and criminal immunity
LB 481 (HHS) Change requirements relating to criminal background checks for certain health care professionals
LB 631 (HHS) Prohibit interchange of anti-epileptic drugs
LB 699 (Judiciary) Adopt the Healthy Nebraska Rx Card Program Act
Friday, February 16 – RECESS DAY
NHA Advocacy Day
The Nebraska Hospital Association’s annual Advocacy Day event is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21, at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln. Several senators have already registered for this event! Register
TODAY!
If you have questions about NHA Advocacy Day, please contact Kris Claussen, Office Administrator, at 402/742-8145 or
kclaussen@nhanet.org.
NHA testimony presented at the hearings can be found on the NHA Web site Advocacy Page-Bill
Status.
NHA Rotunda Review is published by the Nebraska Hospital Association, 3255 Salt
Creek Circle, Lincoln, NE 68504. Phone (402) 742-8140, Fax (402) 742-8191. Visit our Web site at
http://www.nhanet.org. Angela Barry, editor, at
402/742-8143, or email, abarry@nhanet.org.
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