Last week, the Michigan House of Representatives approved House Bill (HB) 4377, introduced by Rep. Lee Gonzales (D-Flint), by an overwhelming margin of 73-31. The bill creates smoke-free workplaces, but provides exemptions for cigar bars, casinos and specialty tobacco retail stores.

The MHA has maintained an active role in the Campaign for Smokefree Air (CSA), a grassroots coalition with more than 270 members, including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association of Michigan and the Michigan State Medical Society, as well as other statewide groups that are committed to passing a smoke-free workplace law. While the CSA is supportive of HB 4377, it contends that a comprehensive smoke-free law should protect all Michigan workers.

The bill now moves to the Senate for approval. Currently, Michigan is one of only 13 states that have not yet eliminated the presence of secondhand smoke in indoor workplaces. For more information, contact Chris Mitchell at the MHA.

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The Michigan House of Representatives and Senate are continuing discussions on their respective bill packages to make health insurance more affordable and accessible to small groups and individuals. The House is using two work groups to prepare its bills for consideration by the Health Policy Committee, and both are scheduled to meet this week. One work group is reviewing House Bills (HB) 4934-4936, which address market reforms to insurance products, rating and underwriting; the other is reviewing HBs 4937-4943, which deal with health care cost reduction issues, including e-prescribing, advance health directives and bulk purchasing of pharmaceuticals. The Senate held one overview meeting on its package (Senate Bills 579-583), but has not scheduled additional meetings.

The MHA is pleased that increased access and affordability of health care coverage is receiving serious attention from legislators on both sides of the aisle. At the same time, the association is working to ensure that these challenges are not resolved by shifting additional costs to providers. The Senate plan includes an expansion of the hospital quality assurance assessment to fund expanded coverage. The MHA Business Advisory Council will discuss both plans at its meeting this week.

To assist members in understanding the similarities and differences between the two sets of bills, the MHA prepared a comparison table of the House and Senate legislation. For more information about the state health insurance reform packages or to provide feedback, contact Laura Appel at the MHA.

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With only one week remaining in the annual MHA Health PAC fundraising campaign, the Health PAC Board strongly encourages those hospitals/systems that have not met or exceeded their organizational goals to immediately launch local fundraising campaigns. The Health PAC has raised more than $213,000 toward its $350,000 statewide goal, and nine additional MHA-member organizations have achieved their organizational goals: North Central Council of the MHA, Petoskey; Northern Michigan Regional Hospital, Petoskey; POH Regional Medical Center, Pontiac; Saint Mary's Health Care, Grand Rapids; Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital, Manistique; Southwest Regional Rehabilitation Center, Battle Creek; St. Joseph Health System, Tawas; Triumph Hospital, Detroit; and West Shore Medical Center, Manistee.

All those who contribute to the campaign secure membership to one of the following clubs: Chairman's Circle ($1,000+), Trustees' Club ($750+), President's Club ($500+), Capitol Club ($350+) and Century Club ($250+). For more information on the campaign, goal achievers and club members, visit the Health PAC Web site.

Members with exceptional fundraising performance will be formally recognized at the MHA Annual Membership Meeting; therefore, all contributions must be received by Friday. Members with questions should contact Stacy Dowdy at the MHA.

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The June 1 deadline established by the MHA Patient Safety Organization (PSO) to standardize three color-coded patient alert wristbands in Michigan hospitals has arrived. MHA-member hospitals that have not already done so are encouraged to provide the MHA PSO with a progress update, as well as feedback on the overall standardization process, by completing a brief, online questionnaire. This initiative is not meant to encourage those hospitals that presently do not use color-coded patient alert wristbands to adopt the practice.

More than 100 MHA-member hospitals that were already using wristbands pledged to standardize the colors. However, as the deadline arrived, less than 60 percent of them have responded to the online questionnaire. Completion of the questionnaire by all standardizing MHA-member hospitals will allow the MHA PSO to gauge the success of this effort and prepare hospitals for questions from local media and community leaders. To learn more, visit the MHA PSO online. Members with questions should contact Morgan Martin or Sam R. Watson at the MHA.

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In recognition of the important role that food choices play in protecting and improving health, the MHA is a co-sponsor of the 2009 International FoodMed Conference being held June 30-July 1 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Detroit. This conference is designed to help participants incorporate sustainable and nutritious food purchasing at their facilities and learn cost-effective strategies that meet the unique needs of health care and facilitate the development of healthy communities. An estimated 300 participants are expected to attend, including health care management, group purchasing organization executives, dieticians, food service directors, and food procurement and distribution professionals. Pending approval, participating dieticians, certified dietary managers and certified food protection professionals may receive up to nine hours of continuing professional education units.

As part of the MHA's community health improvement efforts and at the direction of the MHA Board of Trustees, in January the association began a statewide campaign to voluntarily eliminate industrial trans fats from hospital vending machines, cafeterias and patient nutrition programs by Jan. 1, 2010. Industrial trans fats have been linked to negative health effects and increased rates of obesity, and the MHA's Trans Fats Elimination Initiative is designed to help hospitals lead by example in community wellness.

For more information about the FoodMed Conference or the trans fats initiative, contact Paige Hathaway at the MHA.

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Pfizer Inc recently announced it will launch a program July 1 to help unemployed Americans who have lost their health insurance. The new program, called MAINTAIN™ (Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need), will allow these citizens to retain access to their Pfizer medicines at no cost. Enrollment to the program will be open through Dec. 31 for eligible Americans who have become unemployed since Jan. 1, 2009. Designed to help the recently unemployed continue treatment for free for up to one year, MAINTAIN™ will be funded by Pfizer employee donations (matched by the Pfizer Foundation).

Eligibility requirements include:

• loss of employment since Jan. 1, 2009
• taking a prescribed Pfizer medicine for at least three months prior to becoming unemployed and enrolling in MAINTAIN™
• lack of prescription drug coverage
• can attest to financial hardship

More than 70 Pfizer primary care medicines will be available through the program, which will be integrated into Pfizer's existing family of patient assistance programs called Pfizer Helpful Answers^®. More information on all of Pfizer's patient assistance programs can be obtained by calling (866) 706-2400. MAINTAIN™ is a part of Pfizer Helpful Answers, a joint program of Pfizer Inc and the Pfizer Patient Assistance Foundation.

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• The Michigan Green Health Care Committee will meet from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at MHA headquarters, Lansing. The committee will discuss details of the upcoming 2009 Michigan Green Health Care Conference. For more information, contact Paige Hathaway at the MHA.

• The MHA Health Foundation Board of Directors will meet at noon Tuesday at MHA headquarters, Lansing. The board will discuss future planning for the MHA Keystone Center for Patient Safety & Quality. For more information, contact Brian Peters at the MHA.

• The MHA Business Advisory Council will meet at noon Thursday at MHA headquarters, Lansing. The main topic of discussion will be unemployment compensation. For more information, contact Brian Peters at the MHA.

• The MHA Health Information Technology Task Force will meet from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday at MHA headquarters, Lansing. An overview will be given of health information exchange (HIE) governance models and there will be a presentation by the Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) Resource Center for a proposed HIE funding/sustainability plan. For more information, contact Jim Lee at the MHA.

• The MHA Strategic Planning Committee will meet at 10 a.m. Friday at MHA headquarters, Lansing. The committee will discuss the nursing shortage in Michigan. For more information, contact Brian Peters at the MHA.

• The MHA will soon launch Michigan's Wellness Resource Web site to help small businesses build wellness programs and use resources available at their local hospitals to do so. The MHA encourages member hospitals to review the Web site and provide feedback prior to its launch June 8. It is requested that suggestions are submitted no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday to Paige Hathaway at the MHA.