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Back to: WALA Home > Industry Insider > News Index > WALA News for July 20, 2005
1) State Supreme Court Strikes Down Liability Caps In a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has found the $350,000 cap on non-economic damages for medical malpractice a violation of the equal protection guarantees of the Wisconsin Constitution. The court reversed a court of appeals decision and remanded the case to the circuit court for further proceedings. However, the court did note that it has found other caps—such as those for wrongful death—constitutional in the past, leaving the possibility of a legislative solution open. Obviously, the decision complicates our work to have liability caps extended to assisted living. Our tentative plan is to make sure that assisted living facilities are included in whatever legislation ends up being drafted. Rep. Curt Gielow (R-Mequon) has been tapped by Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) to coordinate legislative efforts on behalf of the Republican majority. A bill would likely enjoy bipartisan support; the two doctors serving in the Assembly, both Democrats, came out against the court’s ruling. We still need your help. Whatever direction this takes, the public needs to know how the liability insurance crisis will impact the availability of care for the elderly and disabled citizens of Wisconsin. Your stories of how skyrocketing insurance rates affects your ability to provide essential services to the community are invaluable. Please send testimonials to WALA Member Services Director Daniel Bush, either by e-mail to dbush@ewala.org or by snail mail to 2875 Fish Hatchery Road, Madison, WI 53713-3120. 2) Insurance Survey Nearing Final Deadline In June, all WALA corporate provider members were mailed a liability insurance survey prepared by the insurance coalition. The purpose of the survey is to collect information from providers which will be used to market Wisconsin to new insurers. To date, we have received only a few responses out of 186 sent. This is an extremely important tool that will help your bottom line, especially considering that legislative relief will now be delayed for some time. We are extending the deadline to July 31. Completed surveys should be mailed to WALA. If you do not have a survey, please contact Daniel Bush at 608/442-0375 or dbush@ewala.org and he will provide you with one. All WALA provider members will soon be receiving invitations to participate in the first-ever WALA Membership Survey. Working with the firm of Suby Von Haden, we are collecting information on what members are getting out of their membership, what WALA can do better to attract new members, and how we can continue to improve Wisconsin’s premier assisted living association. The survey will be conducted in two phases. Phase one will be an electronic survey for WALA provider members only. This will help us gauge the work we are doing now with our members. Phase two will be a paper survey for non-members, to find out what we need to do to bring them into the fold. Our goal is to have the survey completed in time for the membership renewal campaign, which will begin on September 1. We really need your participation on the Membership Survey. It will help WALA continue to improve and grow into an even more successful advocate and resource for assisted living in Wisconsin. 4) “Focus 2005” BQA Conference August 10 in Appleton Pre-Conference on August 9 Spotlighting Dementia Care The fifth annual Bureau of Quality Assurance conference, “Focus 2005 – Collaborating for Quality, Wisconsin Working Together” will be held on August 10, 2005. Staffs from assisted living, facilities for the developmentally disabled and nursing homes and BQA surveyors are invited to attend. Donald Redfoot and Linda Bump are the keynote speakers. There is also a pre-conference on August 9 featuring Jane Verity of Dementia Care Australia. The registration deadline is July 26. Further information and online registration can be found here. 5) Final Draft of HFS-83 Complete By the end of July, the draft of HFS-83 is to be sent to the Office of Legal Counsel, which will begin the formal rule order process. Comments to the draft rule will be received through the normal public hearing process. Links to the documents can be found on the WALA Home Page. 6) OSHA Holding Statewide Meetings on Workplace Injury Kim Stille of the Madison OSHA office will be holding brainstorming sessions across the state on health care worker injuries. The purpose of these sessions is to discuss best practices in reducing the risk of workers for injuries caused by resident transfer and repositioning, through “low-lift” and “no-lift” techniques. The dates and locations of the brainstorming sessions are:
For more information or to sign up for these meetings, contact Kim Stille at Stille.Kim@dol.gov or 608/442-5388. 7) Adult Family Home Reclassification Proposed The Department of Health and Family Services has drafted a proposal to reclassify adult family homes. Currently, adult family homes are classified by size; 1-2 bed AFHs are certified by counties, and 3-4 bed facilities are licensed by the Bureau of Quality Assurance. The proposal would create two categories based on model type, not size. Adult Family Homes would be the “traditional” model of an owner-occupied facility of 1 to 4 beds, and be certified by the local county. Community Care Homes would be the “corporate” model of a 1 to 4 bed facility owned by an outside entity and operated by paid staff, licensed by BQA. If you would like more details or to comment on this proposal, please contact Carrie Molke with DHFS at molkeca@dhfs.state.wi.us or 608/267-5267. 8) ALFA Executive Portfolio Released ALFA’s newly released market study, the ALFA Executive Portfolio, captures what top leaders in senior housing and assisted living are planning over the next few years and beyond. It offers never-before-compiled details on best practices and the future of assisted living. The report will help providers structure their strategic planning discussions and provide valuable information to investors and financiers. Individuals who participated in the study included top executives from a variety of national senior and assisted living companies, including WALA members Alterra Healthcare, Encore Senior Living and The Laureate Group. The price for ALFA members is $750, and $1,400 for non-members. Electronic licenses are also available. Contact ALFA at 703/691-8100 for details or to place your order. ALFA Director of Public Policy Janet Forlini recently met with officials at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) to discuss the department’s pending assisted living research. A draft of the 240-page Residential Care and Assisted Living Compendium 2004 is now available on the ASPE Web site (http://aspe.hhs.gov). This project, a compendium of the regulatory provisions and Medicaid policy for residential care settings in all 50 states is an update of an earlier report released in 2002. The final report has yet to be approved. Additionally, ASPE has commissioned a research report on the use of negotiated risk agreements in assisted living, which will likely be released in late summer. HHS has also formed the American Health Information Community (AHIC), whose main objective is to facilitate nationwide transition to electronic health records. The AHIC will provide input and recommendations to HHS on making health records digital and interoperable while ensuring the privacy and security of individual records. The group will include up to 17 commissioners who will represent consumers, privacy interests, states, payers, providers, vendors, and purchasers. HHS plans to have the group in place by next month. More information is available at http://www.os.dhhs.gov/healthit/ Ms. Forlini has also been meeting with legislators on Capitol Hill. She has been working with the senior members of the Senate Committee on Aging, including ranking minority member Sen. Herb Kohl, on long-term care financing. She has also met with Committee on Finance chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who has informed her that his committee will be looking at Medicaid reform in the near future. 10) WALA Autumn Classic Coming Up Fast! Tee up with WALA! The 9th Annual WALA Autumn Classic golf outing and networking event is on Monday, September 19 at Lac La Belle Country Club in Oconomowoc. Take this opportunity to meet some of the top vendors and assisted living operators in Wisconsin over 18 holes. Golf, food, raffle prizes and awards are included, and sponsorship opportunities are available for non-golfers. Proceeds support our educational and advocacy efforts. The deadline
for “early bird” registration has been
extended to July 31. Don’t delay, register for the WALA Autumn
Classic today!
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