wsha awphd a letter from leo what a strange session this was it seems we often say the session we just completed was the most intense one we can remember this year i think it s true it felt like we had a target on our backs much of the time with a variety of legislators wanting to legislate and regulate their own hospital-related issue my predictions for how the session would go turned out to be way off base we started off so optimistic about our budget priorities because the state had a budget surplus for the first time in years $1.4 billion at the beginning of the session grew to $1.6 billion we thought this would be the time for the state to invest in health services that had been cut and neglected in the past strangely we actually fared better on our budget priorities last year when there was a deficit i appreciate the need for the state to save its money to guard against future cost increases with legislators wanting to prevent major cuts or tax increases but i am disappointed
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2006 legislative summary increase medicaid hospital rates hospitals received an average 1.3 percent annual medicaid payment increase for 2006 and 2007 more than most providers but much less than the actual increase in hospital costs currently the state is studying the distribution of medicaid inpatient payments the state cannot simply redistribute existing hospital payments but also needs to provide a significant increase in the total amount of payments wsha did not ask for more money this year but began educating legislators with the goal of securing more funding in the 2007-2009 biennial budget increase funding for inpatient mental health washington state s community hospitals providing inpatient mental health services lose significant dollars on mental health care to medicaid and medical assistance patients since 2000 inadequate hospital payments have resulted in the closure of 160 hospital beds 19 percent of capacity continued lack of funding for community hospitals could lead t
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wsha awphd budget summary continued affordable health care the budget includes $200,000 for a task force to make recommendations to the governor and legislature by december 2006 for a five year action plan to substantially improve access to affordable health care evidence-based medicine a committee is established and given $1.2 million to study evidence-based purchasing methods for the state s major health care purchasers recommendations will emphasize health care procedures and technologies shown to be effective and cost-efficient community health collaboratives the budget provides $1.4 million to implement the provisions of senate bill 6459 which establishes a fund for community-based organizations to increase access to health care the focus of the program is low-income working people who are uninsured or underinsured community clinic grants grants to community clinics that provide free and reduced-cost medical care to low-income people are increased by $2 million employment status
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2006 legislative summary wsha goals inoctober2001,thewshaboardoftrusteesadoptedfivegoalstoguidewsha spolicy/advocacyefforts 1 address the human resources crisis by assuring the availability of a skilled well-trained diverse and productivehealthcareworkforceandredefiningacareenvironmentthatvaluespatientcareproviders 2 assure the vitality of hospitals and physician practices by enabling them to bargain effectively with private third party payers providing adequate government funding for health services and improving patient safetyandqualityofcare 3 assureaccesstohealthcareandinsurancebyobtainingsufficientresourcestoprovideaccessforevery child in washington reducing the number of uninsured workers and funding necessary community-based healthcarenetworksinruralareas 4 promoteregulatoryreformandadministrativesimplificationbyeliminatingburdensomegovernmentregulations and reducing activities and workload involved in the transaction of business among health plans hospitals,andphysicians;and 5
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wsha awphd wsha bill summary continued equipment and $9 million for training rather than the $229 million estimated using the office of financial management s assumptions to meet the original equipment training and personnel requirements the law s requirements are phased in over four years wsha will provide member hospitals further information on complying with the requirements of the law and taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the law see the chart on the previous page for more information about the original bill versus the enacted law or contact brenda suiter wsha director of rural and public health policy at 206 216-2531 or brendas@wsha.org hospital billing and charges wsha began the session strongly opposed to senate bill sb 6189 the bill was aimed at helping patients understand their bills during a hospital stay but would have required extensive additional reporting and would have required hospitals to become a centralized billing office for all health care bills th
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wsha awphd wsha bill summary continued on the bill with the primary area of disagreement centering around expanded reporting authority for the department mandatory overtime hb 1371 and sb 5368 would have greatly limited the availability of on-call nurses the ability to schedule nurses in advance for on-call time is a critical component of ensuring hospital units are staffed adequately this is especially true when the hospital census fluctuates and the hospital nursing work force is comprised largely of part-time workers the bills would have undermined hospitals ability to staff patient care units safely while using hospital resources responsibly nurse staffing ratios and posting hb 1372 would have mandated prescriptive nurse staffing plans and minimum nurseto-patient ratios while also requiring hospitals to cover meal and rest breaks hb 1710 would have required hospitals and nursing homes to post the nurse-topatient ratio for each unit for each shift wsha opposed a prescriptive one-s
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2006 legislative summary over the summer and fall washington hospitals will participate in a wsha effort to evaluate and improve hospital practices with regard to billings to the uninsured and charity care procedures for more information about this work contact claudia sanders wsha vice president for policy development at 206 216-2508 or claudias@wsha.org patient safety fund hb 1291 and sb 5318 would have provided funds for patient safety projects with priority to projects that have been proven to reduce medical errors and enhance patient safety funding would have come from increases in licensing fees for health providers and facilities as well as one percent of the contingency fees of the prevailing plaintiff s attorney in medical liability lawsuits language creating a nurse staffing task force advocated by the washington state nurses association was amended onto the bill in the senate wsha worked to ensure the language was reasonable for hospitals but the amendment died when the full
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wsha awphd awphd bill summary continued the ago narrowly interpreted an elected legislative body as not applying to these districts depriving commissioners of the ability to support or oppose ballot measures awphd joined other special purpose districts in successfully advocating legislation so that governing boards of special purpose districts including public hospital districts can take a collective stance on ballot measures affecting their districts if the procedures outlined in section 42.17.1301 of the revised code of washington are followed awphd successfully resolved the following issue so legislation is not needed financial reporting extension awphd s 2006 legislative agenda was shortened by one item just before the legislative session began the request for a 30-day extension for public hospital districts to submit financial statements to the state auditor s office was handled administratively in a december 2005 letter to awphd state auditor brian sonntag wrote that submi
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2006 legislative summary one of the most significant pressures hospitals face is the growing number of people without health insurance in our state and across the country we find it ironic that legislators who have cut children s health insurance basic health and medical assistance programs are now demanding that hospitals provide greatly expanded free or discounted care to the same people they cut off state insurance programs we know that hospitals alone cannot be the solution for the uninsured we must provide people with help purchasing health insurance so they can afford health care and get preventive and chronic care in a timely and cost-effective manner many of you have developed close personal relationships with your legislators these relationships and your legislators understanding of your hospitals are key to our success if we can help you create or improve these relationships please let us know all the staff at wsha and awphd are proud to support and represent you your suppor
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wsha awphd policy/advocacy team the 26 members of the policy/advocacy team represent hospital interests before federal state and local governments team members work with hospital leaders and elected officials to support priorities of the washington state hospital association wsha and the association of washington public hospital districts awphd team members also work with federal state and local agencies to ensure appropriate enforcement and administration of hospital-related policies rules and laws for more information on the policy/advocacy team visit us on the web at www wsha.org or contact randy revelle at 206 216-2515 or randyr@wsha.org chelene alkire projects coordinator wsha taya briley director legal affairs wsha tom byron chief information officer wsha william callicoat jr director financial policy wsha jo chavira-bash policy/advocacy coordinator wsha jane feldman director analytical services health information program wsha victoria galanti executive vice president wsha dick
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for additional copies of this report visit our online bookstore at http www.wsha.org/page.cfm?id=bookstore or contact danielle kean executive assistant wsha 206 577-1826 daniellek@wsha.org washington state hospital association 300 elliott avenue west suite 300 seattle wa 98119-4118 www.wsha.org www.awphd.org association of washington public hospital districts
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