NHHA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
February 3, 2005
The Legislature is getting busier now that bills have all been
introduced. NHHA has been following a number of bills of
particular interest as well as attending briefings on
Medicaid/GraniteCare and the state budget and revenues.
State Budget
The Governor will present his
budget to the Legislature on February 15th. In the
meantime, in a presentation to the House Ways & Means
Committee, it was revealed that, due to an accounting error,
the $300 million deficit just grew by $70 million. The error
is attributable to double counting New Hampshire Hospital
Federal Medicaid disproportionate share funds.
GraniteCare
HHS Commissioner John Stephen has been making presentations to
the House and Senate Health & Human Services Committees on his
Medicaid reform plan, GraniteCare. Two bills have been
introduced to implement GraniteCare proposals. Hearings have
not yet been scheduled:
HB
690-FN, Relative to Medical Services for Children and Pregnant
Women
This bill requires the Medicaid Program to
establish health services accounts to be used for health care
services for children and pregnant women on Medicaid.
This proposal requires approval by the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS).
HB
691-FN, Relative to the Medicaid Program.
HB 691-FN proposes stricter standards for admission to nursing
homes in order to reach the proposed goal of reducing nursing
home admissions by one-third. This means that more intensive
services will be needed in community-based settings.
Governor’s Forums on Medicaid Reform
Governor Lynch is holding regional forums on Medicaid
Reform. NHHA testified at the January 24th forum
in Concord. Click
here to view our testimony. The next two forums will
be held on Monday, Feb 7th, 9:30 – 12:30 at the
Littleton Learning Center, 646 Union Street, Littleton; and
Friday, February 11th, 9:30 – 12:30 at the NH
Technical College, Rooms 149 and 150, in Nashua.
Infection Reporting
A bill requiring reporting of hospital-acquired infections was defeated in the House Health
& Human Services Committee. Dr. Susan Saviteer of Concord
Hospital testified on behalf of New Hampshire’s hospitals in
opposition to the bill, HB 224, relative to the
collection of data on hospital-acquired infections rates.
Mandatory Overtime for Nurses
The House Labor Committee is holding on to HB 66,
“Regulating mandatory overtime for nurses.” HB 66
would prohibit disciplinary action against a nurse who refuses
to work more than 12 consecutive hours. Despite opposition to
the bill by the Board of Nursing and the NH Nurses
Association, proponents claim that nurses are forced to work
overtime. The committee will conduct a survey of nurses in
New Hampshire to determine the extent of the problem of
mandatory overtime. Hospitals reported they do not require
mandatory overtime except in rare instances when patients are
at risk.
Upcoming Hearings:
Prompt Pay Legislation
SB 78, Relative to payment of healthcare providers by health
carriers
Hearing: February 8
Under current law, health insurers must pay providers within a
specific timeframe. However, the current statute is
inadequate to ensure that health plans meet this requirement
as well as to provide sufficient information to the provider
regarding incomplete claims. SB 78 provides needed
clarification to ensure timely payments as well as automatic
interest payments to providers when payments are delayed.
SB108-FN,
Relative to newborn screening tests and fees for newborn
screening tests
Hearing: February 8
This bill clarifies the tests to be given to newborn children
and establishes the fees paid by hospitals for newborn
screening. It is a request of the Department of Health and
Human Services.
SB119, Establishing a
committee to study exempting acute care rehabilitation from
the nursing home moratorium
Hearing: February 8
This bill establishes a committee to study whether the
physical rehabilitation services presently available are
adequate to serve the citizens of New Hampshire and to
determine whether acute care rehabilitation provided by either
a specialty or regular hospital should be exempted from the
nursing home moratorium.
HB 514, Establishing the New
Hampshire health care quality assurance commission
Hearing: February 8
This bill establishes the New Hampshire health care
quality assurance commission to review and analyze information
concerning medical errors. Under this bill, the commission
shall terminate in 5 years. (NHHA supports this bill, which is
an outcome of the Medical Errors Commission.)
HB 574-FN, Requiring the reporting of burn injuries
Hearing: February 10
This bill requires health care professionals to report burn
injuries to the state fire marshal within 72 hours of
treatment. This bill also requires the state fire marshal to
establish a burn registry data base. (NHHA is working with
the state fire marshal on this issue.)
HB 423, Relative to insurance premiums for medical malpractice
liability insurance
Hearing: February 10
This bill requires medical malpractice insurers to base
medical malpractice premium rates for medical malpractice
liability insurance on New Hampshire statistics instead of
national statistics.
Go to http://www.nhha.org/nhha/state_law/bills.php to view the list of bills NHHA will be tracking in 2005. Additional bills will be added as we become aware of them.
