- TPA-TABOR Constitutional Amendment Dies in the Senate
- Senate Select Committee on Healthcare Reform Hearing Scheduled
- DHFS to Hold Webcast to Assist Entities on Creating Managed LTC
- DHFS Assisted Living Forum Scheduled for Tuesday, May 16, 2006
- NEMT Transportation Services Broker System RFP Dropped
- 103 Enrolled Bills: Legislation Awaiting Final Action by the Governor
TPA-TABOR Constitutional Amendment Dies in the Senate
Last Thursday the Wisconsin State Senate voted 21-11 in opposition to the TPA-TABOR Constitutional Amendment (SJR-63), which effectively kills this legislation for the rest of this year. TPA-TABOR is the proposal that would place mathematical formulas into the state constitution to limit state and local government revenue and spending. Eight Republicans and all 13 Senate Democrats voted against passage of TPA-TABOR. The Assembly a week earlier voted down a similar state and local government TPA-TABOR Constitutional Amendment. However, the Assembly did pass with a one-vote majority a “state only” government revenue and spending limit, but the Senate referred the Assembly version to committee indefinitely – effectively killing the bill.
Please, if your State Senator is one of the 21 that voted NAY – please send them an e-mail or call them and thank them for voting against amending the Constitution with TPA-TABOR. We should reward those state elected Legislators for doing the right thing.
Who is my state Legislator? http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/
Senate Select Committee on Health Care Reform Hearing Scheduled
Thursday, May 11, 2006 10:00 AM Chippewa Valley Technical College
Business Education Center, Auditorium Room M-103
Clairemont Campus, 620 W. Clairemont Ave.
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Hearing Notice: Review of Health Care in Western Wisconsin: Individuals interested in testifying should focus their comments on health care cost, quality and access in Western Wisconsin. Information should be provided identifying health care cost drivers as well what individuals, providers, businesses and health plans have done to contain health care costs while ensuring quality services. Individuals should be prepared to provide recommendations addressing what the state should do to help address health care cost, quality and access concerns.
Long-term care providers located in Western Wisconsin should consider attending and testifying at this public hearing. In our constant battle to educate Wisconsin lawmakers about inadequate Medicaid, Family Care and other long-term healthcare program reimbursement and how this situation does impact quality care - this public hearing is another opportunity to tell our story. Wisconsin currently under funds long-term healthcare programs by nearly $400 million. This level of under funding will force many long-term care providers, whose ability to “cost shift” these losses is limited at best, either to begin to limit access to care and/or to make difficult operational/staffing cuts, both of which ultimately will impact patient care.
The committee will be holding a few more hearings around the state, and then issue a report on testimony provided sometime in early June.
DHFS to Hold Webcast to Assist Entities on Creating Managed LTC
The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) will be hosting a webcast regarding “Critical Components of Managed Long-Term Care: Care Management”. This is the third in a series of briefings to assist long-term care planning grantees and others interested in expanding managed long-term care in Wisconsin. The format will include a 50-60 minute presentation followed by 30-40 minutes for questions from the audience.
The focus of this briefing, Care Management, Part 2 is organizational processes necessary to support effective care management, including building interdisciplinary teams and person-centered decision making processes for service provision and purchasing. The speakers will also highlight how care management systems differ between the current fee-for-service waiver programs and managed long-term care programs. This program is intended for senior managers who are planning for new organizational structures and processes. This is not a training program for interdisciplinary care management team members.
Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 3:00-4:30 PM
Visit this address http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/LTCare/rfi/webcasts/index.htm to:
- Join the live presentation at the announced date and time;
- Find supplemental materials, including PowerPoint slides of the presentation; and
- View a recording of the Care Management, Part 2 webcast after the live broadcast.
Moderator: Judith E. Frye, Associate Administrator
Division of Disability and Elder Services
Presenter(s): Laura Hanson, Long-Term Support Quality and Training Specialist
Community Options Section, Bureau of Long-Term Support
Division of Disability and Elder Services
Neal Minogue, Community Integration Specialist
Developmental Disabilities Services Section, Bureau of Long-Term Support
Division of Disability and Elder Services
Becky Cupp, Long-Term Support Supervisor
Richland County Health and Human Services
FYI - DHFS Assisted Living Forum Meeting Notice
Tuesday, May 16, 2006 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Madison Area Technical College
211 North Carroll Street – Room 240
Madison
NEMT Transportation Services System Broker RFP Dropped
The Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) has been working with non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) providers and county health departments on a proposal to contract with a transportation services broker to manage the NEMT system statewide. However after eight months of negotiations with counties, DHFS has failed to obtain support from enough counties to move forward with the NEMT broker system. Last week, DHFS sent a letter to counties and NEMT stakeholders that the department has made the decision to discontinue their efforts to implement a NEMT broker system at this time.
The issue first surfaced as a budget amendment last year that would have allowed DHFS to implement a broker managed NEMT system saving the State of Wisconsin approximately $3 million over the biennium. There was much controversy over the issue, since the transportation provider associations publicly opposed the NEMT broker budget amendment. After much debate the legislature decided to delete the provision giving DHFS the power to move forward with the NEMT broker system. However, the legislature sent a mixed message on the issue, because the legislature continued to assume there would be $3 million in savings. Basically, even though the NEMT system broker proposal was deleted – DHFS would be forced to try and work with all 72 counties to implement the broker system because the legislature took the $3 million savings that would be generated from implementing such a program. To make matters more confusing the same trade associations representing transportation providers that opposed the NEMT broker system weeks later passed a resolution supporting DHFS pursuing a transportation broker system. This provision will likely be revisited in the 2007-09 Biennial Budget.
103 Enrolled Bills: Legislation Awaiting Final Action by the Governor
103 bills passed the Senate and Assembly over the past two weeks and now await action by the Governor. The following legislation are bills that could impact healthcare providers. The Governor is required to take action on these bills by May 30, 2006. These proposals will either become law or be vetoed.
Senate Bills
SB-145. Deferred prosecution agreements for persons charged with issuing a worthless check or other order for payment and allowing a district attorney to collect money owed to others.
SB-186. Immunity from civil liability for users, owners and providers of automatic defibrillators for acts or omissions in rendering emergency care in good faith.
SB-226. Informed consent for minors for inpatient and outpatient treatment for mental illness and developmental disability, informed consent for the administration to minors of psychotropic medication, and access to records.
SB-391. Guardianships, conservatorships, and wards; involuntary administration of psychotropic medication; protective placements and protective services; powers of attorney for health care; durable powers of attorney; venue, residence, and county of responsibility; requiring the exercise of rule-making authority; and providing a penalty.
SB-409. Definition of sexual contact. This bill specifies that sexual contact includes conduct involving a victim and a third person if it is undertaken at the defendant’s instruction.
SB-424. Modify the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act to deal with stock and other intangible interest in a business association.
SB-650. Registration and treatment records for services for mental illness, developmental disability, alcoholism, or drug dependence, exceptions to confidentiality for treatment records, and a good faith exception to liability for release of records by a record custodian.
SB-653. Expansion of the Family Care program. Contracts with entities to operate resource centers and care management organizations under the Family Care Program, the option of self?directed services, review of expansions of capitation of payments under managed care programs for provision of long?term care services, evaluations of certain managed care programs for provision of long?term care services, and requiring increased payment to nursing homes for care provided as a Family Care benefit.
Assembly Bills
AB-4. Creating a nonrefundable individual income tax credit for certain amounts relating to health savings accounts that may be deducted from, or are exempt from, federal income taxes.
AB-33. Modifies the exception in current law to change it from a discretionary release to a mandatory release of treatment records. The bill also adds siblings to the list of family members who are able to receive the information.
AB-426. Specialized Transportation Assistance Program: allows a county to contract with DOT to hold aids received under the program in trust for the additional purpose of providing services under the program, not just for the purpose of acquiring or maintaining equipment used for such services.
AB-539. Legislative Council Study Legislation on Adult protective services.
AB-958. Eliminates the reference in current law to acting “intentionally or with gross negligence” and applies the same standard for the immunity exemption to all persons acting in response to an emergency, which is the “reckless, wanton, or intentional misconduct.” Under the bill, immunity applies regardless of whether a person is compensated for his or her activities.
AB-1021. Inadmissibility of a statement of apology or condolence by a health care provider.
AB-1087. Creating an individual income tax checkoff for prostate cancer research, creating the Prostate Cancer Research Board, creating the prostate cancer research program, and making appropriations.
AB-1163. Liability of shareholders.
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