Legislative Update
July 7, 2003
LEGISLATURE NEARLY WRAPS UP 2003 SESSION – BUDGET WORK NOT
FINISHED
The 2003 Legislative session won’t be over until legislators
return to craft yet another compromise budget for FY 2004
and FY 2005, as they were unable to override the Governor’s
veto of the compromise budget passed by the House and
Senate. Lacking the necessary two-thirds vote to override
the Governor’s veto, the House and Senate approved a
temporary stopgap budget that allows the state to operate
until September 30th while budget negotiations continue.
Ironically, the 3-month temporary budget provides the higher
level of funding of the compromise budget that resulted in
the Governor’s veto. Therefore, state business will continue
uninterrupted, with Medicaid payments to providers being
processed.
House and Senate leadership appointed budget conferees who
are expected to begin their work Wednesday, July 9th.
Legislators assigned to the Joint Budget Advisory Group are
Senators Robert Clegg (Hudson), Dick Green (Rochester), Ted
Gatsas (Manchester), Lou D’Allesandro (Manchester), Robert
Boyce (Alton); and Representatives Michael Whalley (Alton
Bay); Neal Kurk (Weare); Kenneth Weyler (Kingston); Rogers
Johnson (Stratham) and Mary Jane Wallner (Concord). House
alternates are Robert Wheeler (Goffstown); Robert Giuda
(Warren) and Marjorie Smith (Durham).
NHHA 2003 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
Hospitals’ priorities for the 2003 legislative session
included medical liability, certificate of need, Medicaid
budget, hospitals’ tax exempt status, and health data
privacy. Hospitals fared well with these issues. Though the
budget is not yet final, we were successful in securing
support toward the end of the session to prevent the deep
cuts in Medicaid reimbursement proposed by the Governor and
the House.
MEDICAL LIABILITY: LOSS OF OPPORTUNITY DOCTRINE OVERRULED
NHHA, along with other healthcare groups, successfully
negotiated legislation to fix a major medical liability
problem created by the courts. Despite intense opposition,
the Legislature passed Senate Bill 119, which overrules the
decision in Lord v. Lovett (146 N.H. 232, NH Supreme Court
decision of April 4, 2001) and specifically removes the
“Loss of Opportunity” doctrine from state law. As applied by
the courts, this doctrine had expanded the scope of the
state’s medical injury statute, permitting patients to
recover damages for a new type of injury – the loss of
opportunity for a better outcome, i.e. if their medical care
could have resulted in a substantially better outcome – not
just if the care provided resulted in injury. The
Legislature therefore determined that the passage of SB 119
is a necessary step in holding down the escalating costs of
medical malpractice insurance. SB 119 went into effect June
30, 2003.
NHHA and our partners in the Fair Medical Liability Task
Force were successful in killing a competing bill (HB 290)
promoted by the NH Trial Lawyers Association, which would
have codified the Loss of Opportunity doctrine into state
law.
In a related bill (HB 287), the legislature created two
commissions to address malpractice and medical errors. The
Professional Malpractice Claims Study Commission will
examine the Professional Malpractice Claims Panel
established under RSA 519-A and determine how this panel can
be used to contain the cost of liability insurance.
Hospitals will have two represent-atives on the malpractice
commission as well as the Commission to Identify Medical
Errors and Their Causes.
CERTIFICATE OF NEED BOARD RETAINED
Two competing CON bills were defeated this year thus
ensuring the continuation of the Health Services Planning &
Review Board (the CON Board). NHHA supports continuation of
the CON program operating under the auspices of a
consumer/provider board, that provides a public
decision-making process regarding availability of essential
services which market forces working alone would not afford.
House Bill 788 proposed to deregulate New Hampshire's health
care market by abolishing the CON Board, transferring the
CON review function to the Department of Health & Human
Services, and limiting CON regulatory oversight to inpatient
services only. NHHA supported the Senate’s CON bill, SB 163,
which would have retained the CON Board and require review
of equipment operating leases. However, once the House
gutted SB 163, and inserted all the provisions of HB 788,
NHHA worked to kill the bill which died in Committee of
Conference.
TAX EXEMPT STATUS: STUDY COMMITTEE EXTENDED ONE YEAR
The Legislature passed House Bill 172 to extend the study
committee on the property tax exemption for not-for-profit
hospitals. The bill also requires the committee to include a
study of the community benefits law and to file its report
by November of 2003. This committee is one of several in
which legislators have investigated hospital business
practices. Throughout the past five years, none of these
committees have reported problems with hospitals’ business
practices.
HEALTH DATA PRIVACY
NHHA opposed a bill that would have created a
quasi-government non-profit entity supported by provider
taxes ($700,000 charged to hospitals) to oversee health care
data in New Hampshire. Senate Bill 78 was one of numerous
privacy bills stemming from the legislature’s Privacy Task
Force. While NHHA applauds efforts to highlight the need for
comprehensive health information to be made available, we’re
opposed to the Legislature creating a quasi-governmental
entity to be in charge of such an initiative. The proposed
Health Care Information Council would have duplicated work
presently carried out by the Department of Health & Human
Services as well as data collection and analysis that DHHS
is already authorized to conduct.
Senate Bill 78 has been ‘retained’ in committee, which
significantly limits any further work on the bill this
session. Instead, the Legislature added a very diluted
version of SB 78 to House Bill 670 requiring DHHS and the
Insurance Department to collect encrypted health insurance
claims data and to collaborate to create a comprehensive
health care information system.
For more information on legislation, visit the NHHA website
at www.nhha.org.
To view any of these bills, go to
http://www.nhha.org/state_law/bills/bills.php.