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Legislative Update
 January 19, 2012 
Idaho Public Health Association
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Established in 1939, the Idaho Public Health Association (IPHA) is the oldest nonprofit organization representing public, private and consumer health interests in Idaho. IPHA provides a forum for the expression and dissemination of current public health issues, trends and technologies.
 
In 2011, IPHA was honored as the "Outstanding State Affiliate of the Year" by the American Public Health Association.
 


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IPHA Policy Intern, Vanessa Potoski, Writing Legislative Updates During 2013 Session 
 
During the coming months, IPHA's Policy Intern, Vanessa Potoski, will be monitoring public health related issues that arise during the 2013 Legislative Session.  Ms. Potoski holds a degree is biology and is currently a student in Boise State University's School of Nursing.   She brings a wealth of experience in education and project management in a state agency to the position.  If you have questions or if there are issues that you would like her to follow this session, she can be contacted at potoskiv@gmail.com.  

 

Legislative Update - January 19, 2013
 
This Update provides an overview of the Governor's State of the State Address, and reactions to this address.  It also summarizes agency presentations in JFAC this week and several public health related bills, including a proposal to expand Idaho's Immunization Registry (IRIS).

Governor Discusses Health Care Issues in 
State of the State Address

On January 7, 2013, Governor Otter began the legislative session with his State of the State and Budget address.  A significant amount of Governor Otter's address State of the State budget was devoted to health care issues.  In the past week, members of the news media and leaders in health care and public health have chimed in with their reactions to Governor Otter's addressed.  

 

Overview of Health Issues in State of State Address:

  • Proposing Medicaid Reform, But Not Expansion: Reminding his audience that he will work to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Governor Otter explained that he will pursue a state-based health insurance exchange and will not expand Medicaid.  Rather, he will ask Director Armstrong "to flesh out a plan for changing Idaho's system with an eye toward the potential costs, savings and economic impact." 
  • More Idaho Physician Training: In order to ensure accessible and affordable health care for all Idahoans, Governor Otter has included in his budget funding for internal medicine residency at the VA Medical Center to allow residents participate in rural rotations and for five additional seats in the WWAMI medical school program.
  • Medical Home Model Care Delivery Pilot Project Beginning: This month a pilot program to "test medical home theory in urban and rural areas" will begin under the Idaho Medical Home Collaborative that the governor instituted in 2010.  
  • New State Mental Health Facility: Finally, the governor is supporting the Department of Correction's request to issue bonds to build a mental health facility at the prison in order to improve public safety. 

A pdf of the governor's speech can be found here

 

Reactions to Health Care Issues in Governor's Address

  • The Idaho Legislature Democrats' rebuttal to the State of the State speech includes a comment about Idaho's need for community mental health care. 
  • Dr. Ted Epperly, Director of Idaho Family Medicine Residency and a member of the governor's Workgroup on Medicaid Expansion, wrote an opinion piece in the Idaho Statesman.  In this piece, Dr. Epperly lays out eight reasons why the the working group explaining why the task force voted 15-0 in favor of Medicaid expansion.  (The Workgroup's Report issued December is available here.) 
  • Idaho Public Television Segment on Idaho's Physician Shortage. The January 11 segment of Idaho Reports followed up on Governor Otter's comments on the impending physician shortage in Idaho, the state's need for rural physicians, and the Democratic leaders' reactions to his speech.  A video of the program is available here.
  • Additional Coverage of Medicaid Issues: The Kaiser Family Foundation website offers a health reform source page, on which you can find news and information about Idaho's health care reform implementation.   Also, Betsy Russell published an article this week in the Spokesman-Review addressing upcoming Medicaid budget issues. 
Public Health Issues in JFAC this Week
  • Made of up 10 senators and 10 representatives, the Joint Appropriations and Finance Committee (JFAC) is tasked with developing the state's budget for FY 2014.  This week, JFAC heard budget presentations from several health and public health related agencies.  (The schedule of upcoming agency budget presentations is available here.)
  • On January 16, it heard presentations from mental health,
    substance abuse, and state public health services. For links to these agency presentations, please click here.  For media coverage of these presentations, please click here
  • On January 17, several other public health related agencies, including the public health districts, the Commission on Aging, and the Developmental Disabilities Council gave budget presentations (available here).  The presentation by the public health districts highlighted how, the number of full-time equivalent positions in the state's health districts had decreased from 740 in FY2009 to under 600 in FY2012.  The health districts requested a state appropriation of $8.3 Million for FY 2014, which is 2.8% less than FY 2014 (the state appropriation accounts for approximately 17-18% of the health districts' total revenue).
Bills to Expand IRIS and Change Medicaid Behavior Health Services:
  •  Revises provisions of behavioral health services for Medicaid participants to facilitate managed care payment.
  • Two bills related to Idaho's Immunization Registry (IRIS) introduced by the Dept. of Health & Welfare: SB 1011 -  Clarifies terminology for individuals who opt-out of . IRIS. SB 1012 would expand IRIS to both adult and child immunization registry. It would permit IRIS to send a patient's immunizations history to a provider to allow the provider's EMR automatically provides an accurate record.  The bill's proponents offer a detailed statement of purpose available here.   

Thank you for reading.  If you have any questions or insights, please contact Vanessa Potoski at potoskiv@gmail.com  

 

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