2011-12 Budget Signed, MCMCH Mobilizes for Health Care Claims Tax

Governor Snyder signed the 2011-12 state budget into law this week, but work is still being done to fund portions of it, specifically the largest department budget: the Department of Community Health.     

The budget approved by the Legislature for the DCH assumes that separate legislation will be approved

establishing a new health care claims assessment of 1 percent applied to all health insurers in the state. The tax would replace the existing 6 percent use tax on the state's Medicaid health maintenance organizations and prepaid inpatient health plans, which is expected to be ruled illegal by the federal government.   

But Senate Bill 348, which covers the health care claims tax, remains in the Senate Appropriations Committee and has drawn some opposition. The Council e-mailed a letter to all members of the Legislature on Thursday morning, noting that if a replacement source for the presumed loss of funding from the use tax is not passed, the ramifications will be enormous. The administration has identified reductions in Medicaid provider rates as the most likely place the shortfall would be recouped if SB 348 is not enacted. Gongwer News Service reported on the issue and MCMCH's letter in its Thursday report.

Read the full letter here.  

Sen. Roger Kahn, the Senate Appropriations Committee chair, introduced SB 348 in April. At the time, Senator Kahn said he expected the Legislature would pass the bill quickly and raise the essential $1.2 billion for Medicaid ($400 million in state funds, $800 million in matching federal funds). The $1.2 billion hole created if SB 348 is not passed would equate to 20 percent cuts to Medicaid provider rates.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Child Death Review Bills On Governor's Desk 

A package of bills that would require the establishment of a public registry containing information about child deaths and require the Department of Human Services to notify local legislators and the Children's Ombudsman of children who died while under court jurisdiction has been ordered enrolled and presented to the Governor for his signature.  Senate Bills 226 and 228 along with House Bills 4385 and 4387 went to Governor Snyder on June 23 and he is expected to sign them. 

Under the bills, DHS will have to notify the Children's Ombudsman within one business day of a child dying during an active Child Protective Services investigation or an open CPS case, if there had been previous complaints about the child's caretaker, or if the death could have resulted from abuse or neglect.  

Additionally, the bills require a child fatality review team and an advisory committee to include a representative of a state or local court and that the citizen review panel look into each child fatality involving allegations of abuse or neglect for each child who, at the time of the death or within the previous year, was under the family court's jurisdiction in an abuse or neglect case.  The advisory committee will also be required to transmit its annual report of child fatalities to DHS, and require the Department to ensure the publication of the report between 30 and 60 days after the advisory committee transmitted it.

MCMCH Executive Director Amy Zaagman is part of the Child Death Review Advisory Team.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Kresge Foundation Grant to Aid in Establishing AHECs in State 

The Michigan Area Health Education Center program, established to recruit, train and retain a diverse health care workforce in the state, has received a $750,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation in support of its efforts.
 

The Wayne State University School of Medicine and College of Nursing received an initial federal grant in fall 2010 to establish the MI-AHEC program and are now partnering with community groups and schools in southeast and mid-Michigan to establish regional centers during the next two years that will develop and implement programs to increase interest in health professions. The AHEC program is particularly important because Michigan is suffering from a severe shortage of health care professionals, and the problem is only expected to worsen.
 

"Our AHEC program is committed to promoting the health and well being of people in underserved rural and urban areas," said Valerie M. Parisi, M.D., dean of the WSU School of Medicine and co-principal investigator of the grant. "That mission lines up perfectly with the Kresge Foundation's priority to foster healthy and safe communities. The grant is just what the doctor ordered."
   

A statewide advisory board representing more than three dozen community organizations has been established to guide MI-AHEC. 

"The advisory board will be absolutely central to the success of MI-AHEC because this is a community based and community driven initiative," said Barbara Redman, Ph.D., dean of the College of Nursing and co-principal investigator of the grant. "This is a true partnership."
 

Wayne State's Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the WSU School of Social Work and the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Dentistry will provide additional leadership, support and training.

The southeast Michigan AHEC has already been established at the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority. The center serves nine urban counties. During the second year of the grant, Central Michigan University will work with the MI-AHEC Program on the development of an AHEC center serving mid-Michigan and will assist in the identification of an agency to host of the Mid-Regional Center that will serve 13 rural and six urban counties. The long-term goal is to establish five regional AHEC centers over five years, giving access to all 83 Michigan counties.

According to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, 75 of Michigan's 83 counties have at least partial designation as primary care health professional shortage areas and 45 counties are designated as mental health care professional shortage areas. Rural and urban areas often suffer greater workforce shortages because of inadequate distribution of health professionals.  

For more information, visit miahec.wayne.edu.

____________________________________________________________________________________