FROM WHERE I'M SITTING...By jeff mero, executive director

Editor's Note: During the holidays, Jeff is taking some well-deserved time off to spend with his family. He and the AWPHD staff send their best wishes for the coming year.

SNAPSHOTS

Leading the list of items on AWPHD's 2005 policy legislative agenda is to push for the passage of legislation so that public hospital district (phd) commissioners can fully discuss quality improvement/performance improvement issues without fear of waiving the confidentiality protections currently provided to these activities by Washington State law. If enacted, this bill would put PHD commissioners on an equal footing with nonprofit and for-profit hospital trustees who can discuss these topics in private. (An issue brief on this topic will be posted shortly on the AWPHD web site.)

Another action the AWPHD Board approved at its December 14th meeting was to support legislation to enable the larger PHDs in urban-suburban areas to have the same investment opportunities as for-profit and nonprofit hospitals. This bill, introduced at the request of Valley Medical Center, Renton (King County PHD #1) also would affect Evergreen Healthcare, Kirkland (King County PHD # 2); Stevens Healthcare, Edmonds (Snohomish County PHD #2); Skagit Valley Hospital, Mount Vernon (Skagit County PHD # 1); Kennewick General Hospital (Kennewick PHD); and Olympic Medical Center, Port Angeles (Clallam County PHD #2). These are the same PHDs that are authorized to exchange fixed rate debt for variable rate debt and vice versa (so-called "swap agreements"). Voter approval of a state constitutional amendment also is needed to implement Valley's proposal.

AWPHD also will be supporting proposals by the Washington Library Association to authorize certain taxing districts-including PHDs-to have levy lid lifts for up to six consecutive years and special/excess levies for more than one year. The special/excess levy bill also requires amendment of the state constitution.

There will be, of course, many other bills-both favorable and hostile to AWPHD's members-introduced during this year's 105-day session, which opens on January 10th and ends in mid-April. Two of the top issues will be the budget and medical liability reform. Throughout the session, AWPHD will be using a variety of ways-including In Focus, e-mails, and telephone calls-to keep you informed about what's happening and to obtain your help in passing and opposing legislation.

The PHD Planning Guide has proved to be helpful to many AWPHD members as they prepare for the State Auditor's Office (SAO) audit. Although this year's guide isn't yet ready for publication, Kelly Collins, the SAO's hospital audit manager, says that there shouldn't be significant changes in this year's guide "so last year's version should still be a reliable resource." Once we get the updated guide, we'll put it on the AWPHD web site and let you know it's there.

The Auditor Update presentation by Kelly Collins and Ivan Danserau (SAO's Quality Assurance Director) at the Healthcare Financial Management Association meeting at Alderbrook Resort in September was a big hit with many of our members. So much so that a copy of their PowerPoint should be on the AWPHD web site shortly.

As a result of AWPHD and Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) inquiries made on behalf of their members (and inquiries from other insurance purchasers), the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) is looking into the practices of broker Marsh and McLennan (M&M). The OIC promptly responded to an AWPHD-WSHA letter resulting from a lawsuit filed by the Office of the New York State Attorney General against M&M for allegedly steering clients to insurers with whom it had lucrative payoff agreements and soliciting rigged bids for insurance contracts. Details of the OIC's follow-up activities will be in an upcoming WSHA Weekly Report.

Hospitals and antitrust issues will be the topic of an AWPHD webcast, scheduled on March 15th from noon to about 1 p.m. Doug Ross, a nationally-recognized expert in antitrust law and a partner in the Seattle law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, will be the presenter. In February you'll get more information about this program.

Due to the interest of several members in a presentation about bringing in and retaining foreign health care professionals, AWPHD began developing a program with Carllene Placide, an attorney with Foster, Pepper & Shefelman in Seattle. We soon realized, however, that a wider audience would find this information useful and the Northwest Regional Rural Health Conference agreed with our assessment: Carllene's program will be part of the 18th Annual Conference, which will be held in Spokane. The conference runs March 24th -25th, but the date and time of Carllene's program have not been determined.

NETWORK NEWS

WWRHCC

On January 1st, Mason General Hospital in Shelton (Mason County PHD #1) will be designated as a Critical Access Hospital and become the newest member of the WWRHCC.

PEOPLE AND PLACES

At the beginning of December, Kennewick General Hospital (KGH) welcomed Glen Marshall as its new CEO. Glen, whose previous job was with HealthPlus+ Corporation in Houston, Texas, has 25 years of executive experience with nonprofit and for-profit hospitals. During his stint with HealthPlus+, he ran two hospitals with a total of 236 beds. Glen took over at KGH from Jonathan Brenn, who served for two years as interim CEO.

The commissioners at Pend Oreille County PHD #1 appointed Tom Wilber as the interim administrator at Newport Community Hospital.

Governor Gary Locke appointed Mark Judy, CEO of Valley General Hospital in Monroe (Snohomish PHD #1), as the hospital representative on a noneconomic damages task force. Created by the Legislature last session, this 14-member group will be studying and developing a proposed plan for implementation of an advisory schedule of noneconomic damages for medical liability lawsuits. The task force, which is being coordinated by the Office of Financial Management, must report its findings to the Legislature no later than October 31, 2005.

As a new way of generating revenue to pay back money it owes Grant County for registered warrants, McKay Healthcare and Rehab in Soap Lake (Grant County PHD #4) borrowed an idea from the movie "Calendar Girls." A tastefully done calendar, featuring local women, is being sold at businesses in Soap Lake, Ephrata and Moses Lake, and orders have come from as far away as Kodiak, Alaska. This limited edition calendar is available for $25 (plus taxes and shipping). Contact Kathleen Brockman at (509)246-1111.

UPCOMING EVENTS

AWPHD Board Meeting
January 12 - 11:00 a.m. • Conference Call
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

2005 State Legislative Session Webcast
January 13 - 12:00 noon. • Webcast
Contact: Danielle Kean (206)577-1826

CMS Discounts to the Uninsured Conference Call
January 21 - 12:00 noon. • Conference Call
Contact: Cassie Sauer (206)216-2538

WWRHCC Member Meeting
January 21-22 • AWPHD Offices, Seattle
Contact: Elizabeth Floersheim (206)577-1851

PHD Project Review Board
January 31 - 11:00 a.m. • Olympia
Contact: John Van Gorkam (360)753-6185

WRHA Board Meeting
January 31- evening • Olympia
Contact:odeam@wsu.edu

WRHA Rural Health Policy Day
February 1 • Olympia
Contact:odeam@wsu.edu

WSHA Rural Hospital Committee Meeting
February 2 - 10:00 a.m. • WSHA Offices, Seattle
Contact: Johanna Bradford (206)216-2510

WHF Quality Connection 2005
February 3-4 - Bell Harbor Conference Center, Seattle
Contact: Barbara Hitzl (206)216-2512

WSHA Executive Committee Meeting
February 11 - 7:30 a.m. • WSHA Offices, Seattle
Contact: Lisa Rusk (206)577-1852

WWRHCC Member Meeting
February 24 • Ocean Beach Hospital, Ilwaco
Contact: Elizabeth Floersheim (206)577-1851

WSHA Strategic Planning Committee
February 25 - 10:00 a.m. • WSHA Offices, Seattle
Contact: Lisa Rusk (206)577-1852

If you have any items for the first In Focus of 2005, please send them to Dick Goldsmith at richardg@awphd.org by Friday, January 21.

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