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Back to: WALA Home > Industry Insider > News Index > WALA News for April 13, 2005
1) ACTION NEEDED! Call your legislators... Support Bill Extending Non-Economic Liability Limits to LTC Providers - (From WALA Lobbyist Forbes McIntosh) "Draft legislation is being circulated among Wisconsin's Legislators for co-sponsorship that would extend the current limit on non-economic damages for hospitals and health care providers to long-term care providers. The deadline for co-sponsorship is this Friday, April 15th. The draft legislation will then be introduced as a Senate and Assembly Bill (companion bills) and will be available for committee hearings and passage. Please Call Your State Legislators: It is essential that many legislators, both Democrat and Republican, co-sponsor the liability limit legislation. The greater the support for this legislation, the greater the probability will be for passage into law. Please take a moment to click on the following website to call and\or write your state senator and assembly representative - requesting that they support this legislation and sign onto the bill: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/waml/. Rapidly escalating liability insurance costs are threatening the accessibility, availability and affordability of long term care services for Wisconsin's elderly and disabled. This crisis affects all types of long-term care settings and is diverting funds needed for patient care to pay skyrocketing insurance costs. Between 1998 and 2003, premiums at nursing homes alone rose by an average of 380%. This problem is even more profound for community-based providers since their settings may be viewed as commanding the greatest potential for risk, and other long term care providers including assisted living, independent nurses, home care and personal care agencies have experienced increases equal to or greater than nursing homes. This crisis ultimately threatens the quality and stability of long term care services available in Wisconsin. To address this problem, Senator Ron Brown (R-Eau Claire) and Rep. Kitty Rhoades (R- Hudson) are introducing legislation to apply the non-economic damage limits currently in effect for hospitals and other health care providers, to long term care providers. This limit is $432,352 as of May 2004, and it is adjusted annually for inflation. By placing caps on liability limits on non-economic damages at the same level that presently applies to the state's acute and primary health care providers, this legislation takes a necessary and prerequisite step toward generating stability, predictability and competition within the current liability insurance environment." Viewers/Readers for: 2) Provider Organization Summit The Provider Organization Summit (POS) is drafting a white paper to be introduced to policy makers regarding inadequate reimbursement rates and presenting possible solutions to funding problems. You can obtain a full copy of the this DRAFT paper on the WALA website or by contacting the WALA office. In its introduction, the white paper states: "POS supports and urges the Wisconsin Legislature to improve access to quality long-term care for Wisconsin's citizens. However, both access and quality care greatly depend upon providers receiving an adequate reimbursement rate for care and supervision that is at least equal to the costs associated with providing these necessary services. Due to inadequate reimbursement for care being provided, a crisis within the long-term care system has been allowed to worsen. Reimbursement rates for COP, CIP, Community Aids, Medicaid nursing home funding and other long-term care programs have not kept pace with increases in inflation, labor costs, health insurance premiums and liability insurance premiums. The greatest and most important cost factor to providing quality care is labor - the salaries and benefits provided to direct caregivers and staff...Throughout Wisconsin, long-term care providers struggle daily with high employee turnover and recruitment shortages all directly related to inadequate reimbursement by State of Wisconsin." 3) Draft bill regarding property tax exemption for non-profit facilities A DRAFT bill which, if passed, would eliminate the ability for many non-profit organizations to claim exemption from property tax, has been released. It is WALA's understanding that this bill would not affect CBRFs. You can view the entire DRAFT bill on the WALA website or by contacting the WALA office. 4) Kathy Vieau, RFOS of Northeastern Region resigns Kathy Vieau, RFOS of BQA's Northeastern Region has resigned: Those providers in the BQA's Northeastern Regional should be aware that Kathy Vieau, the RFOS of that regional office, has resigned. It is WALA's understanding that Kathy's responsibilities are currently being covered by Barbara Brock-Arndt of the Northern Regional Office of BQA. BQA will post a job description for the position on their website soon. 5) BQA 5th Annual Conference: FOCUS 2005 BQA 5th Annual Conference: FOCUS 2005: Collaborating for Quality - Wisconsin Working Together, August 9-10 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton - Come hear directly from the BQA on best practices, regulatory compliance and more! This is an extremely important opportunity for you as a provider - so take advantage of it! The registration fee for this conference has yet to be determined. BQA will begin taking registrations June 1, 2005. We'll keep you posted. The Radisson Paper Valley Hotel is however taking
reservations for overnight accommodations. Back to Top of Page |
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