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Critical Health Areas Project (CHAP) NewsletterVolume 1, Issue 3July 19, 2006
Announcements
There will be a session devoted to CHAP issues at NCSL's Annual Meeting in Nashville. It will be August 14, from 3:30-5:30. Below is a description of the session: Critical Health Topics: Lessons from Tennessee Addiction Prevention & Treatment LAST CHANCE! REGISTRATION CLOSES FOR THE ADDICTION STUDIES PROGRAM FOR STATE LEGISLATURES ON FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2006! I am pleased to invite you to participate in a workshop of the Addiction Studies Program designed specifically for legislators and legislative staff. The workshop is sponsored by Wake Forest University School of Medicine, National Families in Action, Treatment Research Institute and the National Conference of State Legislatures. This workshop will be held at the 5th Avenue Suites Hotel in Portland, Oregon, on September 13-14 OR September 15-16, 2005. The purpose of the Addiction Studies Program is to inform key audiences about the science underlying drug abuse and addiction. Founded in 1999 by Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and National Families in Action, a drug-prevention organization in Atlanta, Georgia, the Addiction Studies Program was originally created to educate journalists about the biology of addiction. The program is funded by the National Institute of Drug Addiction (NIDA) and to date more than 200 people have been trained. In 2005, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, National Families in Action, Treatment Research Institute and the National Conference of State Legislatures obtained funding from NIDA to establish an Addiction Studies Program specifically for state legislators and legislative staff. The program’s goal is to build ongoing relationships between scientists and state legislators and legislative staff by conducting workshops and maintaining an Internet web site for state legislators and legislative staff. The workshop will be conducted by scientists from Wake Forest University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Duke University and Treatment Research Institute, along with experts from National Families in Action. All of the faculty are outstanding teachers with real skill in explaining complex scientific information to lay audiences. Please respond by July 21, 2006 to To register, please go to http://www.addictionstudies.org/legislators/register.html, print out the registration form, fill it in, and fax it to FEATURED TOPICSChronic Care & Quality Massachusetts Releasing Information on Quality and Cost of Health Care The new Massachusetts health care reform law that was enacted in Creators of the website hope that providing consumers with information on cost and quality will help them make educated decisions about their health care. The site is designed to help patients select providers and hospitals based factors such as volume, costs, utilization rates and providers’ adherence to practice guidelines. One goal of the law is to drive down health care costs by allowing consumers to compare prices. Two other states have similar information available. In New Hampshire consumers can check the costs of typical inpatient and outpatient procedures, and Florida operates a website where patients can compare prescription drugs prices.
Rhode Island Expands Access to Healthcare through New Low-cost, Basic Health Plan for Small Businesses Rhode Island recently passed the Health Care Affordability Act, a package of incremental access and cost containment reforms. Governor The centerpiece is a new low-cost, “wellness” plan (S2848 / H6999), to be developed by insurers in the state based on criteria set by Health Insurance Commissioner and an advisory council made up of purchasers, chambers of commerce representatives, brokers and direct-pay consumers. Plans will emphasize wellness and disease management, and may provide for different cost-sharing for certain benefit mandates. The law directs the insurance commissioner to try to keep plan premiums below 10 percent of the statewide average annual salary. The legislation also calls for a study of the cost implications of setting up a high-risk insurance pool, to be funded partially with federal dollars, that could help make insurance available to individuals with chronic or severe health conditions (H7926 / S2264). More than half of all states have such pools, but only 250,000 people purchase coverage through these pools nationwide, since premiums can be expensive. Part-time students can maintain coverage under their parents’ coverage up to age 25 under S2211 / H7145, which became law without the governor’s signature. The package also allows for the creation of a reinsurance fund to subsidize premiums for low-wage firms, but lawmakers did not provide a funding mechanism for this fund (a proposed tax on the state's two largest health insurance companies failed after the insurers protested) (S2107 / H6905). Lawmakers may return to this question next year when they reconvene. The state will also establish a panel to study Massachusetts’ new near-universal health care reform (S3172 / H8247). Other measures passed as part of the legislative package:
A summary of the package and its components can be found at:
Providers & Workforce
Kansas Addresses Shortage of Nurses
The Kansas legislature recently approved $3.4 million in funding for the first year of a decade long initiative to address the state’s nursing shortage. The Board of Regents’ initiative is part of a $30 million program that aims to increase nursing capacity in the state by 25 percent, mostly by expanding postsecondary program capacity at nursing schools. The funds, including $22 million from the state and $8 million in matching dollars from participating educational institutions, will be earmarked for nurse educator scholarships, nursing facility and supplies, and equipment and facility upgrades. All 22 public nursing programs in the state are eligible to participate. Please see this site for more information: http://www.kansasregents.org/download/news/060106%20-%20Press%20Release%20-%20Nursing.pdf. For a copy of the enrolled omnibus appropriations bill see (page 16): http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/2968.pdf. Nurse Staffing Bills Gaining Traction
California is currently the only state in the union to have a law specifying nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals. Although its 2004 implementation (it was passed in 1999) was beset with challenges, other states are looking at similar bills. The controversy: whether mandating the number of nurses required for a hospital to operate is a practical approach to improving quality, given nursing shortages. Some argue that it goes a long way toward keeping patients safe, while others contend that it exacerbates the problem of not having enough nurses to go around. At the end of May, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a bill that would require “safe” nurse staffing levels, or nurse-to-patient ratios, in all hospitals. A number of other states, including Connecticut, Illinois and New York, have similar legislation pending. USEFUL RESOURCES
Massachusetts information on quality and cost containment www.mass.gov/healthcareqc Florida Prescription Drug Website http://www.myfloridarx.com/ New Hampshire Health Care Cost Website http://www.nhhealthcost.org/ Quality Matters: Public Reporting of Physician Group Quality Data From the Commonwealth Fund http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=356761 Massachusetts Health Quality Partners http://www.mhqp.org/ Consumer information on quality form AHRQ http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/#quality The Institute of Medicine released an influential report in November 2003 on patient safety and workforce issues. To purchase a copy of Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses visit http://www.iom.edu/?id=16173. Research in Brief: Hospital Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care (March 2004) summarizes the findings of research on the relationship of nurse staffing levels to adverse patient outcomes http://www.ahrq.gov/research/nursestaffing/nursestaff.pdf. For information on state experience with nurse staff ratios in nursing homes see State Experiences with Minimum Nursing Staff Ratios for Nursing Facilities: Findings from the Research to Date and a Case Study Proposal (Feb 2003) http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/stateexp.htm. CALENDAR OF EVENTSAugust 15-18: NCSL’s Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee December 5-8: NCSL's Fall Forum in San Antonio, Texas |
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