Legislative Update 1-16-09 

Date:               January 16, 2009 (Legislative Day 5)

Contact:          GAEMS Board of Directors, GAEMS Members

Consultant:     Joshua Mackey (jmackey@brockclay.com), Seth Millican (smillican@brockclay.com)

 

 

CALENDAR

 

The General Assembly has adjourned as of Friday, January 16 and will not reconvene until Monday, January 26.

 

The Department of Community Health (DCH) and the Department of Human Resources (DHR) will present their FY 09 Amended Budget and their FY 10 Budget to a joint meeting of the House and Senate Appropriations Meetings on Friday, January 23 at 9:00a.m.

 

TRAUMA

 

This week began with Speaker Glenn Richardson making a strong statement of support for trauma funding at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Eggs and Issues Breakfast.  To date, three pieces of trauma funding legislation are being prepared.  These include a cell phone fee, a diversion of the state's quarter mill property tax, and a $10 fee for car tags.

 

Brock Clay met with the Speaker's office on Thursday afternoon and learned that the Speaker is very flexible in his view of which funding method should be used.  He will rely greatly on the will of the House Republican Caucus as to which method is the most acceptable.  Brock Clay is staying in particularly close contact with Representatives Scott and Millar to support them in their trauma funding efforts.

 

The Governor’s FY 2010 Budget also included $37 million of trauma funding that is a result of a new 1.6% fee on hospitals and a 1.6% fee on health insurance providers that will raise approximately $210 million (which will go towards Medicaid and PeachCare).

 

The budget also includes $23 million to be generated from the governor’s proposal to increase fines on super speeders.  The governor introduced this legislation last session, but leadership in the House was not supportive of the bill.  The $23 million would only be available with the passage of this legislation.

 

The total funds included in the budget for trauma is $60 million.

 

Legislators are pursing other means for raising trauma revenue because this amount is not sufficient to cover the losses of providers of trauma care, and this proposal is very controversial.  Several legislative leaders have stated they will make sure these new fees will not be in the final budget, and that would essentially eliminate these funds.  Legislators have also not been enthusiastic in their support for the super speeder legislation.

 

Brock Clay also attended the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission meeting on Thursday, January 15. 

 

BUDGET & MEDICAID

 

The FY 2009 Amended Budget included everything GAEMS expected, including a delay until July 1, 2009 in last year’s increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate.

 

The FY 2010 Budget includes a new 1.6% fee on hospitals and a 1.6% fee on health insurance providers that will raise approximately $210 million.  These funds will be used to pay for Medicaid rate increases approved in last year’s budget, but delayed until July 1, 2009.  EMS will receive $1.98 million for the Medicaid reimbursement rate increase improved last year, if the legislature keeps these fees (this is an increase from $1.5 million last year because it accounts for growth in enrollment and utilization).

 

These new fees assessed will also include $37 million for trauma funding.

 

This proposal from the governor is highly controversial, and several legislative leaders have vowed that these fees will not be in the final budget.  This could potentially mean a delay or the loss of the increases originally put in the FY 2009 budget, a cut in the Medicaid reimbursement rate, or both.

 

The insurance industry is adamant to stop the implementation of this new fee.  Hospitals are torn from accepting a new fee on their services, and the benefit it will bring to their reimbursement rates and needed trauma money.

 

EMS will need to decide whether to support, oppose, or remain neutral on these new fees, and whether to come up with an alternative proposal to avoid any cuts if the legislature decides to eliminate these new fees.

 

The governor’s office has said that the governor would reconsider these new fees if a stimulus package from the federal government included funds for Medicaid.

 

DHR RE-ORGANIZATION

 

Representative Mark Butler (R-Carollton) is expected to introduce legislation to re-organize DHR and move the Division of Public Health to DCH. 

 

The governor’s staff is still working on the final legislation, which is reported to be nearly 200 pages in length.

 

LEGISLATION

 

Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth) ha s sponsored SB 26, legislation that would omit the home address, telephone number, social security number, and insurance or medical information of firefighters and EMS personnel from being released to the public through open records requests.  

 

The current version of the bill only mentions firefighters, but the Georgia Firefighters Association is supporting our request to include EMS.

 

Senator Don Thomas (R-Dalton) has introduced his legislation to require seat belts to be worn in pickup trucks.