Rotunda Archive

February 27, 2009

The Nebraska Hospital Association – Nebraska's influential voice for health care.

If you have questions or concerns about any state legislation, please contact Bruce Rieker, Vice President, Advocacy, at (402) 742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org; or Cora Micek, Advocacy Coordinator, at (402) 742-8153 or cmicek@nhanet.org. 

NHA offers testimony, letters of support or opposition at bill hearings

LINCOLN—The legislature continued hearings on bills this week, many of which the NHA and member hospitals testified or submitted a letter of support or opposition, including:

• LB 136 - Change provisions for eligibility for medical assistance. View
• LB 208 - Add false information about employees to the crime of fraudulent insurance act and to the Insurance Fraud Act. View
• LB 326 - Change provisions relating to the Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool Act. View
• LB 358 - Change the Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool Act. View
• LB 514 - Change workers' compensation disability compensation provisions. View
• LB 599 - Require health care facilities to provide itemized billing statements upon patient's request. View
• LB 604 - Change the Pharmacy Practice Act to change provisions relating to medical gas distribution. View

The NHA will continue to monitor bills of interest and take the necessary actions that best represent its membership. For current advocacy alerts and updates, visit the NHA's Advocacy Action Center.
 

Hearing schedule for March 2 – 6

The following "bills of interest" to NHA members are being heard in committees next week. Behind each bill number is the committee that will hear testimony.

If you would like to share your perspective on a particular bill or are interested in testifying at the hearing, please contact Bruce Rieker, Vice President, Advocacy, at (402) 742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org, or Cora Micek, Advocacy Coordinator, at (402) 742-8153 or cmicek@nhanet.org.

Monday, March 2

• LB 637 (Banking) - Require disclosure of information by certain group health carriers

Tuesday, March 3

• LB 37  (Appropriations) - Appropriate funds for a new division of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing in Norfolk
• LB 200 (Transportation) - Change motorcycle and moped helmet requirements
• LB 607 (Education) - Adopt the Higher Education Academic Scholarship Program Act

Wednesday, March 4

• LB 417  (Health and Human Services) - Change provisions of the Optometry Practice Act

Thursday, March 5

• LB 406 (Health and Human Services) - Permit certified nurse midwives to have clinical privileges in hospitals
• LB 457 (Health and Human Services) - Change provisions relating to certified nurse midwives
• LB 481 (Health and Human Services) - Eliminate restrictions on midwives attending home deliveries
• LB 486 (Government, Military, Veterans Affairs) - Require certain governmental entities to identify themselves as such in their official name
• LB 632 (Revenue) - Adopt the Nebraska Green Building Advantage Act and authorize a sales tax refund

Click here click here to access the Unicameral's bill finder.


 

Register now for March 31 Advocacy Day

The Nebraska Hospital Association's annual Advocacy Day event is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31, at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln.

In 2008, 86 hospital representatives gathered at the Cornhusker Marriott in Lincoln to learn about legislation that impacts health care delivery in Nebraska. The Advocacy Day luncheon was attended by nearly 200 individuals from across the state, including 38 senators.

This half-day workshop will provide health care advocates with important information about state legislative issues. Scheduled speakers include Governor Dave Heineman; Rhonda Hawks, Chair, Behavioral Health Oversight Commission, Founder, Hawks Foundation; Steve Wengel, M.D., and Susan Boust, M.D. University of Nebraska Medical Center; Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc, Dean of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Paul Muraca, AHA Regional Executive; Laura J. Redoutey, FACHE, NHA President; Bruce Rieker, NHA Vice President, Advocacy and Cora Micek, NHA Advocacy Coordinator.

The 2008 Advocacy Team of the Year will also be recognized. Following the morning's educational programming, you will have an opportunity to visit with your senator about how legislation will affect health care in your community at a Legislative Luncheon. Registration is $30 per person. To register online for Advocacy Day, click here.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available. If you are interested in sponsoring Advocacy Day, contact Kelley Porter, Director of Communications, at kporter@nhanet.org or (402) 742-8151 or click here.

March to save the secret ballot

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, more than 12,700 people are now marching to oppose the so-called "Employee Free Choice Act" (EFCA). Organized labor is seeking to dramatically rewrite American labor law with legislation that would essentially abolish secret ballot elections during union organizing drives. By forcing workers out of the voting booth and subjecting them to a public 'card check' scheme, the bill would take privacy, power and choice away from America's workers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce leads the Workforce Freedom Initiative, a nationwide grassroots effort to defeat organized labor's anti-growth agenda. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the card check bill, H.R. 800, in 2007. It fell just 9 votes short in the U.S. Senate, and is bound to resurface early in the next Congress.

The Nebraska Hospital Association, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, strongly oppose this anti-democratic legislation, and encourage you to join the Virtual March on Washington.
 

Committee releases preliminary budget report

LINCOLN—The Appropriations Committee released its preliminary budget report Feb. 26, proposing adjustments that would increase state obligations by $54.8 million over the biennium, in comparison to Governor Dave Heineman’s budget plan.

The committee’s recommendations would result in a financial status that is $36.4 million below the minimum reserve. This likely will be adjusted in the final budget recommendation, as the committee foresees significant alterations to the preliminary financial status before April.

Factors that will likely alter the financial status include revenue forecast revisions, availability and use of federal stimulus funds, the status of the state’s defined benefit retirement funds and use of cash reserve fund monies. Read more.

— Unicameral Update, February 26, 2009

 

Bill would allow smoking ban exception

LINCOLN—The Legislature’s General Affairs Committee on Thursday carved a path to another exception to the state’s smoking ban that goes into effect June 1. The committee voted 5-3 to advance a bill (LB 355), introduced by Omaha Senator Scott Lautenbaugh, to the full Legislature that would allow smoking in cigar bars. Those bars, in addition to selling alcohol, would have to receive 15 percent of gross revenue from tobacco sales. Proof of that must be sent to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. Read more.

— Lincoln Journal Star, February 27, 2009

 

Proposal to fill gaps discovered by safe haven bill

LINCOLN—Parents could request behavioral health services from the state while maintaining custody of their children under a bill heard by the Judiciary Committee February 25.

Fullerton Senator Annette Dubas, sponsor of LB 356, said the bill would reduce the number of parents who feel they must legally transfer custody of their children to the state so that they may receive behavioral health services.

Dubas said she introduced the bill to address gaps in access to children’s behavioral health services brought to light by the state’s 2008 safe haven law. Read more.

— Unicameral Update, February 27, 2009

 

Bill would make funding changes to NECHIP

LINCOLN—Several funding changes would be made to the Nebraska Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool (NECHIP) Act under a bill heard by the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee February 24. LB 358, introduced by Omaha Senator Rich Pahls, would raise premium rates for NECHIP participants and allow the state Department of Insurance to set health care provider rates at 125 percent of Medicare reimbursement rates. Under the bill, people who apply for NECHIP, based on eligibility other than that required by HIPAA, would have to exhaust coverage under COBRA. Read more.

— Unicameral Update, February 26, 2009

 

White House 2010 budget outline includes hospital provisions

WASHINGTON—President Obama Thursday submitted to Congress a fiscal year 2010 budget outline that would create a reserve fund of more than $630 billion over ten years to help pay for health care reform.

Half of the reserve fund would come from savings in health care programs, including proposals to bundle Medicare payments for hospital and post-acute care ($17.84 billion in savings), reduce payments to hospitals with certain readmission rates ($8.43 billion), and link a portion of inpatient hospital payment to performance on specific quality measures ($12.09 billion). The budget outline also cites the need to address physician self-referral to facilities in which they have a financial interest.

AAHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock said, “We commend President Obama for making health reform a top priority in his budget blueprint. However, we are concerned about any cuts that would affect the work hospitals do for their communities during this economic downturn. We remain ready to work with the president and Congress to strengthen health care in America.”

— AHA News Now, February 27, 2009

 

Obama health plan opens tough negotiation

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's prescription for the nation's ailing health care system comes with Medicare cuts and tax hikes. But the budget Obama proposed Thursday is not a finished blueprint for overhauling health care, but instead the opening bid in a tough negotiation. Read more.

— AP/Yahoo News, February 27, 2009

 

AHA Annual Membership Meeting


Join your colleagues April 26–29 in Washington, D.C., at the 2009 AHA Annual Membership Meeting to hear the latest on the forces buffeting health care, and to take hospitals’ message to Capitol Hill. The agenda includes prominent keynote speakers such as former Nightline host Ted Koppel, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher and former Secretary of State James Baker ... executive briefings on important health care topics, an opportunity to earn ACHE credits … and more!
 

For more information about health-related legislative bills or resolutions, contact: Bruce Rieker, Vice President, Advocacy, at (402) 742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org or Cora Micek, Advocacy Coordinator, at (402) 742-8153 or cmicek@nhanet.org.

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. Kelley Porter, editor, at (402) 742-8151, or email, kporter@nhanet.org.

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