- Behavioral Health
South
Carolina’s system of providing care to those in need of behavioral
health services is in crisis. The system is severely under-funded and in
many communities it is fragmented and poorly coordinated. Despite the
tough economic times, the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA)
believes it is imperative that we begin reinvesting in our state’s
behavioral health care system. State agencies, private providers, and
patient advocacy groups must work collaboratively to strengthen the
continuum of care and create statewide protocols to improve treatment
for our state’s most vulnerable citizens.
South Carolina hospital
emergency rooms have become the safety net for the mentally ill. Far
too many South Carolinians suffering from mental illness and/or
substance abuse problems are either living on the streets or
incarcerated. Too often, they are dropped off at hospital emergency
rooms not equipped to provide the services they need. They simply have
no place else to turn.
Learn
more
- Cigarette Tax
SCHA supports increasing
South Carolina’s lowest-in-the-nation, seven-cents-per-pack cigarette
tax to the national average, which is currently $1.34 per pack.
Increasing the state tax on cigarettes is reported to be a highly
effective way to reduce smoking and smoking-related death and disease in
both adults and youths. Studies indicate that South Carolina could
expect long-term health care savings of $1.2 billion from reductions in
adult and youth smoking as a result of raising our cigarette tax to the
national average. Not only would this save lives and money, it would
also generate $217 million in additional state revenue, providing
funding for important health care needs such as protecting the Medicaid
program.
Because it is uncertain what obligations states will
have if federal health care reform is enacted, any revenue generated
from the cigarette tax should be held in a trust fund to meet future
health care funding needs.
Learn more
- Medicaid
With providers forced to
shift to businesses and their employees the cost of care provided to
uninsured South Carolinians, it is imperative that our state maximize
its use of the Medicaid program and available federal matching funds.
While hospitals are reimbursed for allowable costs, they contribute $264
million through a statutory tax that helps preserve the state’s health
care safety net which the uninsured depend on for needed services. With
Medicaid expansion certain to be part of any health care reform package
passed by Congress this year, SCHA believes the state should mount an
aggressive outreach program designed to enroll all Medicaid eligible
individuals and remove existing barriers to Medicaid enrollment and
re-enrollment.
Learn more with two links by Clicking
Here and Clicking
Here.
- Tort
Reform
Recent research shows the average American family
pays an additional $1,700 to $2,000 per year in health care costs simply
to cover the costs of defensive medicine—that is, providing medical
services that are not expected to benefit the patient but that are
undertaken to minimize the risk of a subsequent lawsuit. SCHA supports
meaningful medical malpractice reform that discourages the filing of
frivolous suits against health care providers by instituting non-binding
arbitration for medical malpractice claims with the provision of a
“loser pays” rule that applies to the parties that reject the
arbitrator’s decision and continue to court.
Learn
more
- Healthcare Workforce
The
first wave Baby Boomers will reach age 65 in 2011 and our current health
care workforce is too small and unprepared for this aging group of
citizens. This, combined with any health care reform efforts to increase
access to appropriate health care services, will put an immeasurable
strain on our capacity to adequately respond to the state’s health care
needs. Therefore, South Carolina must start immediately to adequately
fund existing educational programs and create bold new initiatives to
create an adequate supply of well-trained physicians, nurses, and allied
health professionals to meet these growing future needs.
Learn
more
Download
2010 Legislative Priority flyer (pdf)
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