NHHA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE


April 8, 2005

The State Budget, Medical Malpractice, and Health Insurance topped the list of hospital priorities in the Legislature this week.
 

MEDICAID BUDGET

House budget writers are moving quickly to complete their work on the state’s budget.  However, good news arrived when earlier in the week the House Ways and Means Committee announced higher than estimated Business Profits and Business Enterprise revenues thus bringing in $41 million.

This was followed on Thursday with House Speaker Doug Scamman’s announcement that he would support the 28 cent per pack increase in the state’s cigarette tax proposed by Governor Lynch. However, Speaker Scamman stated that he’d only approve using the money for funding education. The tobacco tax increase would raise an additional $87 million.

As of Friday, the House budget writers working on the Medicaid budget recommended restoring some of the cuts proposed in the budget, including Hospital catastrophic payments and indirect medical education payments. Outpatient hospital payments (91.27% to 80% of allowable costs) are still on the chopping block.


SENATE APPROVES MEDICAL MALPRACTICE BILL

The Senate came through and approved the pretrial screening panel bill that hospitals, physicians and insurers support. SB 214 would require the parties in a medical malpractice case to go before a three-person panel to evaluate the merits of the claim. If the parties cannot settle their claims after the panel hearing and decision, they may proceed to trial. This legislation is modeled after Maine's successful pre-trial screening law, where malpractice premium rates are significantly lower than in New Hampshire.


HOUSE COMMERCE HEARS PROMPT PAY BILL

The House Commerce Committee heard testimony this week on behalf of hospitals, physician practices, and home health agencies in support of a bill that strengthens the law requiring timely payments to healthcare providers. SB 78 addresses problems in the current statute by clarifying the definition of a “clean claim”, requiring automatic interest to be paid to providers when payments are delayed, and including new provisions to ensure that insurers account for pended and denied claims.


SENATE APPROVES INSURANCE REFORM

The Senate approved its small group health insurance reform bill, SB 125, repealing health status and geographic location as small group rating factors and establishing a reinsurance mechanism. Like the House SB 110 reform bill (HB 611), SB 125 eliminates the medical underwriting and geographic rating provisions of SB 110, and creates a small employer health reinsurance pool for employees with medical problems.

The Senate version caps the premium that insurance companies can charge their highest rated customers at 3.5 times the rate charged to the best rated customers.
The differences between the House and Senate versions of small group insurance reform will have to be resolved before a compromise bill becomes law.


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.

Click Here for the NH House and Senate Web Site