CHA provides timely information to its members on a daily basis.
This section contains a chronological listing of the most
important issues. To view information by topic, please visit the
Hospital Topics section.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has
approved the final component of the six-month hospital fee, which
includes payments to Medi-Cal managed care health plans using
hospital fee funds and intergovernmental transfers from public
hospitals. The six-month fee program covers the period from
January 1, 2011, through June 30, 2011.
Funds from intergovernmental transfers and hospital fee dollars
will be used to draw down federal matching funds to increase
capitation payments to health plans.
On December 22, House and Senate leadership reached an agreement
to postpone for two months the 27 percent Medicare payment cut to
physicians set for implementation January 1, 2012. The
agreement also extends unemployment benefits and the payroll tax
cut. The House and Senate are expected to act on the
agreement by unanimous consent December 23.
Unlike the proposal that passed the House last week, this
two-month agreement is not financed by cuts to hospital
payments. CHA opposed the House financing mechanisms, which
would have meant an additional $2 billion in Medi
The congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction,
known as the “super committee,” failed to reach an agreement by
its November 23 deadline on a deficit-reduction plan.
Therefore, $1.2 trillion in automatic trigger cuts will occur in
January 2013. Democrats and Republicans could not agree on
a mix of tax increases and spending reductions. A major
sticking point was the future of tax cuts signed by President
Bush that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2012.
The 12-member super committee, which included California Rep.
The California Department of Public Health's (CDPH) All
Facilities Letter 11-30 clarified what hospitals with cardiac
surgery services and hospitals without cardiac surgery services
can provide in their cardiac catheterization laboratories (see
Nov. 2 CHA memorandum at www.calhospital.org/afl-11-30).
CHA sought further clarification regarding whether hospitals
without cardiac surgery services can insert pacemakers and
Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (AICDs).
After thorough deliberation, the CHA Board of Trustees has voted
unanimously to withdraw its endorsement of hospital participation
in the California Hospital Assessment and Reporting Taskforce
(CHART).
Many California hospitals, doctors, other health care providers
and employers oppose Consumer Watchdog’s initiative because it
will limit patients’ access to care. It creates more government
bureaucracy and intrusive regulatory controls over people’s
health. It does not resolve Medi-Cal or Medicare payment
shortfalls to providers or the real reasons for rising health
care costs.
Patients love their nurses. Hospitals do too. Nurses
provide the caring touch and clinical expertise that is integral
to ensuring high quality patient care every day in hospitals
throughout California. Sadly, the labor union that
represents less than one-fourth of all California nurses seems to
have a different priority.
The Jan. 5 release of the Governor’s proposed 2012-13 state
budget offers a glimmer of hope that an upturn in California’s
ongoing fiscal crisis may be on the horizon. Given the projected
$9.2 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year, however, a
balance of revenues and expenses is required to address the
state’s short- and long-term budget challenges.
The Administration’s proposal to redirect nearly $43 million from
private and non-designated public hospitals is
disappointing. These stabilization funds were intended to
cover costs already incurred by hospitals. And, because
these funds are matched by federal dollars, the loss to hospitals
would be almost $86 million.
The California Hospital Association (CHA) is pleased by a federal
court decision blocking state officials from implementing
Medi-Cal rate cuts slated for distinct-part skilled nursing
facilities within acute care hospitals. The decision, issued late
Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder, should have
put an end to California’s ongoing attempts to balance the
state’s budget on the backs of patients and health care
providers.
Patients love their nurses. Hospitals do too. Nurses
provide the caring touch and clinical expertise that is integral
to ensuring high quality patient care every day in hospitals
throughout California. Sadly, the labor union that
represents a minority of California nurses seems to have a
different idea about the role nurses should play this holiday
season.
Today, at the behest of union bosses at the California Nurses
Association (CNA), more than 6,000 nurses at hospitals in Long
Beach and the San Francisco Bay Area are being pressured to
abandon their patients and
The American Hospital Association (AHA) recently released a
report titled, “Workforce 2015: Strategy Trumps Shortage.” This
report is the result of a year-long effort by the 2009 Long-Range
Policy Committee to examine health workforce issues in the coming
decade and to provide findings and recommendations for the field.
Allied Health: The Hidden Health Care Workforce is the
result of work completed by the CHA Healthcare Workforce
Coalition. The coalition was established by CHA, and is sponsored
in part by The California Endowment, in response to the need for
a coordinated, statewide effort to develop and implement
long-term strategies that will address allied health workforce
shortages in the state. Members of this broad coalition include
CHA member hospitals and health systems, as well as various
stakeholders, including representatives from the University of
California (UC), California State University, California
Community Colleges, California Labor and Workforce Development
Agency, UC San Francisco Center for the Health Professions,
Connecting the Dots Initiative, Campaign for College Opportunity,
Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and
California Primary Care Association, among others.
This
CHCF issue brief examines how California's nurse-staffing
regulations affected different types of hospitals in order to
probe what strategies were used to meet the ratio requirements;
whether the ratios influenced hospitals' financial performance;
and what effect they had on improving patient care.
