|
Prognosis looks good
for Medicaid budget
Despite a huge state budget deficit, the Medicaid
program is in line to receive some much-needed increases during
the next fiscal year. Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed health
care budget protects 200,000 or more Michigan children who
stand to lose health care services if additional cuts are made,
and also protects thousands of Michigan jobs, the Partnership
for Michigan's Health said.
MSMS, a founding member of the Partnership, praised the budget. "The
governor's budget is good news for a lot of vulnerable Michigan children
to help ensure access to basic health care," said MSMS President
Hassan Amirikia, MD. "Funding health care is a sensible investment
in Michigan's future."
MSMS physician leaders and other Partnership members spent the afternoon
meeting with the following state lawmakers to secure their support of
Medicaid relief before they vote on the governor's proposed budget: Sens.
Shirley Johnson and Tony Stamas, Reps. David Farhat, Mickey Mortimer,
and Gary Newell.
HIGHLIGHTS
While most other departments did not see increases,
more than $400 million in state funds have been added to the
fiscal year 2005 Medicaid budget, with most of the funds coming
from cigarette tax increase
Boosting the state cigarette tax from $1.25 to $2.00 would generate $295
million in new revenue ($30 million would go into the Healthy Michigan
Fund for smoking cessation and chronic disease prevention programs, $265
million would be deposited into the Medicaid Benefits Trust Fund to provide
direct, ongoing support to the Medicaid program)
Continuing to tax large estates also will generate more revenues ($94
million in fiscal year 2005, and $130 million on a full-year basis) that
would also be deposited into the Medicaid Benefits Trust Fund
Funds would also help to reduce Michigan's near nation-leading rate of
smoking, protect thousands of health care jobs, and help Michigan improve
its status as a "donor state." (For every $1 Michigan spends
on health care, the federal government sends Michigan $1.24)
The MSMS Board of Directors will take up the cigarette tax issue during
its next meeting in March.
For more information about the Governor's proposed budget, contact Colin
Ford at MSMS at (517) 336-5737 or cford@msms.org.
Conference examines patient saftey
The Michigan Health and Safety Coalition has announced
its 2004 safety conference, Improving Patient Safety Through
Innovation and Action. The conference offers information and
dialogue on today’s key patient safety issues.
National experts will explore how to balance accountability with the
need to learn from mistakes; how workforce issues affect the quality
of care; tools, designs and principles that create a safer environment;
and the role of patients and families in patient safety. Concurrent sessions
led by Michigan health professionals will focus on innovative ways to
improve patient safety in all settings.
The conference is scheduled for April 14-15 at the Ford Motor Company
Conference and Event Center, Dearborn. Continuing medical, nursing and
pharmaceutical education is being offered for both days and a poster
display will spotlight patient safety projects and outcomes by a number
of Michigan hospitals and health systems.
The brochure and registration materials are available on the Michigan
Health & Safety Coalition’s Web site at www.mihealthandsafety.org.
Editorial: Moving Ahead Or In Circles?
By JOSEPH WEISS, MD
Editor
To date, we have championed the cause of the Detroit/Wayne
County Public Health Authority. We, as well as others, see the
DMC connection with the Health Authority as the link whereby
the promise of health care for the uninsured will become provision.
Recent information gives pause in such faith. Greatly troubling was the
Dec. 31 announcement of the sale of five DMC clinics. At that time, the
DMC administration stated that this move was a business decision: these
facilities were losing $23 million per year. After critics questioned
that financial assertion, the DMC administration made another announcement,
stating it had made an error: the real financial loss was $3 million
per year. Critics of the sale also noted that the facilities being sold
provided 50,000 uninsured people with ongoing and good quality medical
care.
In response, DMC Chief Operating Officer, Gwen Mackenzie stated that
the clinics will not close or stop seeing patients during the transition
from the DMC to new owners.
The same newspaper article that quoted Ms. Mackenzie also noted that
the clinics were not sold as of Dec. 31, as the DMC administration had
implied. Rather, there was a month of due diligence involved for the
would-be owners. A close reading of the article brought to light that
Ms. Mackenzie did not comment on what would happen to the uninsured when
the transition was complete.
However, this time period gave an opportunity for further discussion
on the impending, but not completed, sale. Both MaryAnn Mahaffey, President
of Detroit's City Council, and Ms. Jewel Ware, Chair of the Wayne County
Board of Commissioners, pointed out that sale of the clinics as planned
would shut out the poor and uninsured from needed medical care.
However, the most forceful and telling damnation of the DMC action came
from the Detroit Medical News. This was in a Jan. 19 article authored
by Dr. Herbert Smitherman and 11 fellow doctors who manned the clinics
being sold. Their report laid out clearly the fate of the clinics, and
confirmed predictions that purchase by the group making the bid will
end care for the uninsured. Dr. Smitherman et al also pointed out that
sale of these clinics would further aggravate the overload in the DMC's
emergency rooms as the uninsured turned away had no other resort in time
of their need.
Then there is the question of the role of DMC Chief Executive Officer
Michael Duggan. On Jan. 22, he went before the Detroit City Council declaring
that the 5 clinics must be sold immediately because these facilities
were costing the DMC $ 7 million a year. There was no explanation why
the previously accepted $3 million per year was no longer valid. His
actions raise a question about his intent. Does he plan to save a hospital
with a unique mission and a dedicated staff, or is he the spokesman for
a Board of Directors that has lost sense and direction.
At this time it may be appropriate to pause in support for health care
reform for Detroit's residents as now presented. It may be better to
allow the DMC to self-destruct. Possibly, once freed from the burden
the DMC brings, the medical community and the Public Health Authority
can surge forward in providing, sustaining, and improving health care
for the uninsured.
|
