NHHA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
February 11, 2005
Quality Assurance
HB 514: Establishing the Health Care Quality Assurance
Commission
A hearing was held on HB 514, which establishes the New
Hampshire Health Care Quality Assurance Commission responsible
for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quality
assurance information on a statewide basis. The Commission
would review and analyze quality of care issues and propose
changes to improve care. Every acute care hospital and
ambulatory surgical center will be represented on the
Commission. Information will be confidential and protected.
The House Health & Human Services Committee voted unanimously
to pass HB 514.
Joe Conley of Concord Hospital and Stephen Plume, MD of
Dartmouth-Hitchcock testified on behalf of hospitals. Click
here to read Dr. Plume’s
testimony.
Prompt Pay Legislation
SB 78, Relative to Payment of Healthcare Providers by Health
Carriers
The Senate Insurance Committee heard testimony this week
on behalf of hospitals, home health agencies, and physicians
in support of a bill that strengthens the law requiring timely
payments to healthcare providers. SB 78 also requires
automatic interest to be paid to providers when payments are
delayed. Under the current law, though health insurers are
required to pay providers within a specific timeframe, many
claims are not paid in a timely manner.
Mental Health Costs Task Force
HB 488, Establishing a Task Force on Mental Health Costs.
This bill would create a task force to conduct a study of
the State’s costs in providing mental health, drug and alcohol
treatment provided through the Department of Health & Human
Services, the Department of Corrections, the Department of
Education and other state agencies. In NHHA’s testimony, we
requested that the Task Force’s membership include a
representative of the NH Hospital Association. The Community
Behavioral Health Association requested a representative on
the task force as well.
Infection Reporting
HB 224, Relative to the Collection of Data on
Hospital-Acquired Infections Rates.
The House of Representatives killed a bill that would have
required reporting of hospital-acquired infections Dr. Susan
Saviteer of Concord Hospital testified on behalf of New
Hampshire’s hospitals in opposition to the bill,
Upcoming Hearings:
Governor’s Budget Address
Governor John Lynch will present his budget message for
the 2006-2007 biennial budget to a joint session of the House
and Senate Tuesday, February 15th at 10:00. Medicaid and
education will top the list of budget challenges to be
addressed.
Reporting Burn Injuries
HB 574, Requiring the Reporting of Burn Injuries
This bill would require health professionals to report
burn injuries to the State Fire Marshal within 72 hours of
treatment. NHHA questions whether the data collection is for
statistical purposes or investigational purposes. Depending on
the purpose, the nature of the data needed is different and we
recommend the bill to be amended to be more specific.
Small Group Health Insurance
The Senate Banks and Insurance Committee will meet on
Friday, February 18, 2005.
An all day session is planned beginning with a presentation by
Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny and the House Commerce
Committee
The following bills will be introduced by their sponsors
followed by testimony in the afternoon:
SB 6, relative to small group insurers. This bill would
establish a small group reinsurance association and a
reinsurance mechanism for small group insurance carriers who
may reinsure eligible employees for cost-sharing purposes.
Changes the definition of small employer to employers with
2-50 employees (current law defines small employers to have
1-50 employees). Deletes geographic location as a rating
factor for premium rates for small group health insurance.
SB 64, establishing a committee to study small group health insurance plans. This bill creates a committee to study small group health insurance plans for groups of one to 50 and 51 to 100. The committee’s study would include, but not be limited to, the effect of Senate Bill 110 (which revised the laws on small group health insurance) on these groups, ways to better serve these groups, and health plan loss information.
SB 67, eliminating health status as a rating factor for small group health insurance. This bill eliminates health status as a rating factor when the carrier is establishing premiums charged to small employers. Other rating factors would remain including age, group size, industry classification and geographic location.
SB 118, repealing certain provisions of law regarding small group health insurance. This bill repeals certain provisions of Senate Bill 110, which revised the laws on small group health insurance. These include industry classification, geographic location, and health status. SB 118 changes the definition of small group employers to employers with 1-100 employees.
SB 125, relative to small group health insurance and relative to reinsurance. This bill clarifies small group health insurance law regarding permissible rating factors. This bill also establishes the New Hampshire small employer health reinsurance pool to offer pool coverage to eligible employees of small employers.
Medicaid
Two GraniteCare bills requested by the Dept of HHS will be
heard by the House HHS Committee:
HB 690, relative to medical services for children and
pregnant women. This bill would authorize the replacement
of the Children's Health Insurance Program with capped Health
Services Accounts (HSAs) for Medicaid and Healthy Kids
patients.
HB 691, relative to the medicaid program. This bill
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.
Medical Liability
HB 423, relative to insurance premiums for medical malpractice liability insurance. This bill requires medical malpractice insurers to base premium rates for medical malpractice insurance on New Hampshire data instead of national data.
Mandatory Overtime
HB 384, prohibiting mandatory overtime. This bill would
prohibit employers who employ more than 25 people from
requiring overtime as a condition of employment.
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.
