 |
|
Use
Higher State Revenues to Restore Massive Cuts to Medicaid
New Revenues Must Go To Health Care
With Michigan’s Medicaid caseload and uninsured population exploding, hospitals and physicians are urging the governor and legislature to use new state revenues to restore massive cuts made to health care programs in recent years. Budget officials for the state House, Senate and governor now estimate that the state general fund will collect about $79 million more than expected in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and roughly $78 million more in FY 2006, which starts Oct. 1. “These higher-than-expected revenues simply must go to health care,” said MHA President Spencer Johnson. “As we struggle to care for Michigan’s record Medicaid population and the growing number of uninsured people, we simply can’t continue to provide even basic care if the state continues to slash our funding.” Johnson noted that, since 1998, Michigan’s Medicaid program has been cut more than $540 million and is now underfunded by more than $1 billion. During this same time period, Michigan’s Medicaid caseload has exploded to a record 1.5 million, and about 1.1 million Michigan citizens now have no health care coverage. Using these unexpected revenues to restore some of the massive Medicaid cuts of recent years will protect access to care for tens of thousands of Michigan’s neediest citizens, protect thousands of health care jobs, and help ease health care cost-shifts to Michigan employers. Keystone to Announce Patient Safety Results at Dearborn Conference
The MHA Keystone Center for Patient Safety & Quality will host its first public conference to announce the results of a two-year effort to improve health care quality and patient safety in Michigan intensive care units (ICUs). The conference, titled “From Rhetoric to Results,” will be held Oct. 13 at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn. Michigan business leaders and media will be invited to hear how the MHA Keystone Center’s pioneering ICU program is making health care safer and better for all citizens. “As far as we can tell, the Keystone: ICU program is the largest collaborative of its kind in the world dedicated to improving health care quality and patient safety,” said MHA Keystone Center Executive Director Chris Goeschel, RN, MPA, MPS. Media interested in attending the conference or in learning more about Keystone initiatives should contact Kevin Downey at the MHA at (517) 323-3443. Securitization Deal: Will Health Care Get Cut Again?
The governor and legislative leaders have agreed to securitize part of the state’s future tobacco settlement payments to drum up $1 billion to invest in creating thousands of new jobs in Michigan’s high-tech and life sciences industries. It appears that, under the agreement, 26 percent of all future tobacco settlement funds that would have come to Michigan will be sold immediately to raise the $1 billion to invest in creating new jobs. As a result of securitization, the state’s annual tobacco settlement payment will decrease. Currently about $100 million a year in tobacco settlement funds help cover health care services for Michigan citizens. Hospitals and physicians have called on the governor and legislature to protect those funds for health care services. “The state has cut health care by more than $540 million in recent years, and now the federal and state governments are proposing to cut billions more,” said MHA President Spencer Johnson. “The tobacco settlement funds must be protected for the health care services they currently support.” Once the funds are securitized, the amount of the annual payments Michigan receives under the 1999 tobacco settlement will drop by about $30 million until 2025. After that year, a new agreement will need to be negotiated between the tobacco companies and the states. Campaign Will Educate Seniors about New Medicare Drug Benefit
A broad coalition of human services, government and health care organizations — including the Michigan Health & Hospital Association — is launching a comprehensive public education campaign to give senior citizens accurate information about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. The campaign will kick off with a Sept. 12 news conference in Lansing featuring the Michigan Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP), the state agency that will be leading the effort to help seniors understand and enroll in Medicare “Part D.” The education efforts will also include another news conference on Sept. 28 in Detroit; statewide TV, radio and newspaper ads; and more. In addition to participating in the news conferences, the MHA will provide information to its member hospitals so they can convey it to elderly patients who ask about Part D. Other organizations, such as AARP Michigan, Medicare Today and the Social Security Administration, will be directing Medicare beneficiaries who have questions about Part D to contact MMAP and the federal Medicare program.
Michigan Hospitals Stand Ready/Lend Aid to Hurricane Victims
As the gulf coast reels from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, Michigan hospitals are joining health care providers nationwide in offering resources and expertise to assist in the disaster recovery. The American Hospital Association and other national and state hospital associations are working with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to help coordinate medical relief efforts for hospitals and patients affected by the hurricane. A Web site has been established for use in staffing and managing up to 40 federal emergency shelters to stabilize and care for evacuated hospital and nursing home patients and others who need medical care. In concert with those efforts, Gov. Granholm has activated Michigan’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to coordinate state efforts to support Hurricane Katrina relief. Hospitals are an integral part of the emergency preparedness network and are working with the Michigan Department of Community Health Office of Public Health Preparedness and its existing regional response structure to coordinate medical volunteers for the field hospitals. Preparations are also being made to handle necessary immunizations. We should all take comfort in Michigan’s steady response and comprehensive approach to this national disaster.
Nearly 300 evacuees from the stricken gulf coast have taken temporary refuge at the Fort Custer Army Training Center in Battle Creek, with more expected to arrive shortly. Some of the disaster victims were transported to local hospitals for treatment before returning to Fort Custer. Emergency Response Region 5 in southwest Michigan is coordinating this effort by state and local emergency management, state and local public health, the hospital community and emergency medical service (EMS) professionals. Other parts of the state are prepared for the possible arrival of evacuees and EMS professionals are organizing for deployment to Louisiana by the Michigan EOC. Michigan’s emergency response system is proving to be well-organized and effective in responding to Hurricane Katrina, and lessons learned from the experience will be useful in the unwelcome event of future emergencies. Working with our state public health partners, Michigan’s hospitals stand ready to help heal the devastation wreaked by Katrina, as the hearts of every U.S. citizen reach out to those left in her wake.
|
