Updated Bill Tracker 4.21.10

The finsh line is getting closer! We are officially 4 weeks away from the end of the 2010 Legislative Session. Of the seven bills CRHC has supported this session, three have been signed by the Governor already and one has been postponed indefinitely. Hopefully the remaining weeks will be relatively quiet, but there is still talk of some possible late bills that may be introduced. Stay tuned.....

Also, as most of you may know already, the Governor signed an Executive Order yesterday creating the Interagency Health Reform Implementing Board, which is tasked with implementing the federal healthcare reform legislation. I will provide more information about the Board and what it is going to look like moving forward as soon as that information is made available.

A note for all of you who follow this blog, I will be offline until Tuesday, May 4th. Enjoy the next 2 weeks and will post here again in May!

Gov. Ritter Healthcare Press Event @ 12:30p Tuesday 4.20.10

Governor Ritter, along with various legislators, will be holding a healthcare press conference tomorrow, April 20th @ 12:30pm, to announce Colorado's plans for implementing federal health reform. The event will take place at Denver Health, Wellington Webb Center for Primary Care, 301 W. 6th Ave. Denver.

Governor Ritter will also be signing the following four health-related bills into law. Please note CHRC supported both HB1138 and SB058!

HB 1004 – Standardized Health Insurance Information (MASSEY—FOSTER)
HB 1166 – Plain Language in Insurance Policies (KEFALAS—NEWELL)
HB 1138 – Colorado Health Services Corps (GAGLIARDI—MORSE)
SB 058 – Nursing Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TAPIA—GAGLIARDI)

Medicare Physician Cuts Postponed......AGAIN!

While it's not a permanent fix, Congress yet again extended the Medicare SGR physician payment methodology. The 21.2% reimbursement cuts that were set to begin April 1st, have now been extended through May 31st. This gives Congress 6 weeks to try to permanently address this issue or physicians will face, yet again, a possible 21.2% reimbursement cut come June 1st.

HB1138: Colorado Health Service Corps on its way to becoming law!

Woo-hoo! The Senate today passed HB1138: Colorado Health Service Corps, which will allow our state to more efficiently & effectively administer the state healthcare professional loan repayment program. The bill also rebrands the state healthcare professional loan repayment program, lovingly referred to as SLRP. The name, the Colorado Health Service Corps, now will reflect the federal health professional loan repayment program, the National Health Service Corps. Also, with the passage of this bill, oral health providers will now be eligible to apply for loan forgiveness dollars through the state's Primary Care Office. The bill does not need to be reconciled, so should be finalized soon and sent to the Governor for his signature.

This is a great victory for our state and for rural & underserved residents and healthcare providers as loan forgiveness programs are a great incentive in strengthening the healthcare workforce in rural and underserved areas.

Updated Bill Tracker 4.12.10

We are 5 weeks away from the end of the 2010 Colorado Legislative Session and yet I think the political fun is just about to begin! The House and Senate have both passed the FY10-11 budget, though differences between the bills still need to be ironed out. Once a final budget has been approved and signed by the Governor, I will post relevant information here. Once the legislative session ends (scheduled for May 12th as of right now), you can expect campaining for November elections to begin in full force. All 65 House seats are up for reelection and 17 Senate seats.

Congress is back in session and the Senate should be voting today to extend the Medicare SGR, which lapsed April 1st. While it would be ideal for Congress to finally address the SGR, so that these temporary fixes don't have to keep occurring, Congress needs to act quick so that physicians do not experience a 21% reimbursement cut for Medicare services.

2010 Colorado Health Resource Book

I wanted to post a link to this resource published every year by the Colorado Legislative Council staff. This was just published in March. It's a great overview of health care issues in Colorado and provides an understanding of how the state spends healthcare dollars within each healthcare department.

Health Reform for Rural Americans

Here is a fact sheet from the White House about the impacts on health reform on rural Americans.

Also, the National Rural Health Association has fact sheets and information on what health reform means for rural providers and consumers.

Webchat on Health Reform with HHS Secretary

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Small Business Administrator Karen Mills hosted a webchat to discuss the benefits of the new health reform law. Click on the link above to watch the 30 minute YouTube discussion.

Updated Bill Tracker 4.2.10

With the state having a furlough day today, I was finally able to catch up and update the bill tracker! You'll see the majority of the new bills listed all pertain to the FY10-11 Budget. Things will pick up again next week as a lot of bills that have been hanging out in limbo in the Appropriations Committee (in both the House & Senate) will start moving forward. There are about 6 weeks left in the session, so we can expect bills to start moving quickly!

Update on 21% Medicare Cuts

With Congress failing to act on preventing the 21% Medicare reimbursement cuts to physicians, CMS has announced they will not pay claims for the first 10 business days in April.