On Tuesday the State Water Board took the first step toward a $506,000 grant intended to pay for water quality testing at California’s beaches so swimmers are protected when water is found to be contaminated.
The board approved a resolution to request Beach Act grant funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency to develop testing programs to reduce the risk of exposure to disease-causing microorganisms in ocean water.
“If we’re successful in getting these funds, we will use them to supplement the state’s beach water quality monitoring and public notification programs, which are conducted by local environmental health departments,” said Tom Howard, Executive Director of the State Water Board. “The maximum funding would help the program continue to operate through September 30, 2013.”
In October, 2011, the Governor signed a bill (SB 242) that provided up to $1.8 million for the State Water Board to oversee a program to monitor beach water quality.
Some funding for monitoring will also come from waste discharge permit fees and from a Cleanup and Abatement Account.
In the past, when state budget program cuts eliminated spending for the monitoring program, the State Water Board has provided emergency funding to test the water at hundreds of beaches from voter-approved environmental bonds including Propositions 13 and 50.
The State Water Board has also provided monies for the development of rapid water-quality testing so that beachgoers can get information about their beaches’ water quality as soon as possible.
Those beaches deemed to be unhealthy, will continue to be posted with warning signs when bacterial indicators exceed state standards.
“The Beach Monitoring Program is essential for the protection of public health and coastal tourism.” Howard said. “Without the information identifying the adverse public health conditions present during that period, millions of visitors to California beaches would have been unknowingly exposed to unsafe levels of bacteria and other pollutants and pathogens.”
California has some of the most popular beaches in the country and millions of beach visitors spend over $10 billion a year in California, according to the National Ocean Economic Project.
For more information on efforts by the State Water Board to keep the state’s beaches clean, please visit www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/beaches/.
On Friday U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the number of hospitals using health information technology (IT) has more than doubled in the last two years.
She also announced new data showing nearly 2,000 hospitals and more than 41,000 doctors have received $3.1 billion in incentive payments for ensuring meaningful use of health IT, particularly certified Electronic Health Records (EHR).
Secretary Sebelius was in Kansas City, Missouri visiting Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley Health Science Institute to make this announcement and discuss the growth of professional jobs in the health information technology field.
“Health IT is the foundation for a truly 21st century health system where we pay for the right care, not just more care,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Health care professionals and hospitals are taking advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to begin using smarter, new technology that improves care and creates the jobs we need for an economy built to last.”
The announcement details information from a new survey conducted by the American Hospital Association and reported by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT which found that the percentage of U.S. hospitals that had adopted EHRs has more than doubled from 16 to 35 percent between 2009 and 2011.
In addition, 85 percent of hospitals now report that by 2015 they intend to take advantage of the incentive payments made available through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
The announcement also highlights new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) detailing $3.12 billion in incentive payments the agency has made to physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers who have started to meaningfully use EHRs to improve the quality of patient care.
In January alone, CMS provided $519 million to eligible providers. EHR incentive payments can total as much as $44,000 under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and $63,750 under the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of health IT jobs across the country is expected to increase by 20 percent from 2008 to 2018, a pace much faster than the average for all occupations through 2018.
The Obama administration provides financial support to eligible health care professionals and hospitals to make the switch to health IT and certified EHRs through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
These programs are funded by the HITECH Act provisions of the 2009 Recovery Act. The administration has also created a nationwide network of 62 Regional Extension Centers to provide technical guidance and resources to help eligible health care providers participate in the EHR Incentive Programs and meaningfully use certified EHRs.
To meet the demand for workers with health IT experience and training, the Obama Administration has also launched four workforce training programs. Training is provided through 82 community colleges and nine universities nationwide.
As of January 2012, over 9,000 community college students have been trained for health IT careers and another 8,706 students have enrolled. And as of February 2012, participating universities have enrolled over 1,200 students and graduated nearly 600 post-graduate and masters-level health IT professionals, with over 1,700 expected to graduate by the summer of 2013.
Two other workforce training programs have resulted in the development of a health IT workforce curriculum and a health IT worker competency examination. The health IT workforce curriculum offers colleges and universities in all 50 states innovative health IT teaching materials at no cost to instructors.
Since its release in May, 2011, more than 2,000 individuals have taken the HIT Pro Exam, a competency examination designed to show employers that job-seekers have attained a proficient level of knowledge and skills in health IT.
Health IT can help keep information private and secure. In addition, federal laws require key persons and organizations that handle health information to have policies and security safeguards in place to protect health information – whether it is stored on paper or electronically.
For more information on how health IT can lead to safer, better, and more efficient care, visit http://www.healthit.gov/.
For more information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, see http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms.
For more information about the HHS Recovery Act health IT programs see http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/announcements/by_topic.html#hit.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act provided approximately 54 million Americans with at least one new free preventive service in 2011 through their private health insurance plans.
Secretary Sebelius also announced that an estimated 32.5 million people with Medicare received at least one free preventive benefit in 2011, including the new Annual Wellness Visit, since the health reform law was enacted.
Together, this means an estimated 86 million Americans were helped by health reform’s prevention coverage improvements.
The new data were released in two new reports from HHS.
“Americans of all ages can now get the preventive services they need, like mammograms and the new Annual Wellness Visit, free of charge, as a result of the new health care law,” Secretary Sebelius said. “With more people taking advantage of these benefits, more lives can be saved, and costly, and often burdensome, diseases can be prevented or caught earlier.”
The Affordable Care Act requires many insurance plans to provide coverage without cost sharing to enrollees for a variety of preventive health services, such as colonoscopy screening for colon cancer, Pap smears and mammograms for women, well-child visits, and flu shots for all children and adults. The law also makes proven preventive services free for most people on Medicare.
The report on private health insurance coverage also examined the expansion of free preventive services in minority populations. The results showed that an estimated 6.1 million Latinos, 5.5 million Blacks, 2.7 million Asian Americans and 300,000 Native Americans with private insurance received expanded preventive benefits coverage in 2011as a result of the new health care law.
The report discussing Medicare preventive services found that more than 25.7 million Americans in traditional Medicare received free preventive services in 2011.
The report also looked at Medicare Advantage plans and found that 9.3 million Americans – 97 percent of those in individual Medicare Advantage plans – were enrolled in a plan that offered free preventive services.
Assuming that people in Medicare Advantage plans utilized preventive services at the same rate as those with traditional Medicare, an estimated 32.5 million people benefited from Medicare’s coverage of prevention with no cost sharing.
The full report on expanded preventive benefits in private health insurance is available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/PreventiveServices/ib.shtml.
The report on expanded preventive benefits in Medicare and other ways that the Affordable Care Act strengthens Medicare is available at http://www.cms.gov/newsroom/.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5) recently lead a bipartisan group of Representatives in sending a letter to the House and Senate group negotiating an extension of the payroll tax credit, calling on them to extend Medicare provisions that benefit rural communities.
The provisions help ensure quality health care in rural communities and support local jobs.
“High quality health care in rural America cannot fall victim to partisan games,” said Thompson. “Folks on both sides of the aisle agree – regardless of if you live in a big city, small town, or rural community, everyone deserves access to affordable, quality care. Congress has extended these benefits many times before and we must do it again so that rural families continue receiving the same level of health care services.”
Approximately one fourth of all Americans live in rural areas that rely on local community hospitals, clinics and independent practices for their health care.
Many of these facilities face challenges that these important provisions help them overcome such as remote geographic location, workforce scarcity, physician shortages and constrained financial resources.
Extending Medicare health benefits help rural facilities and health providers recruit and retain skilled practitioners, provide quality outpatient care and mental health services, and respond to emergency health events.
In addition to the health benefits provided by rural health care facilities, they also provide jobs to rural communities.
The average Critical Access Hospital directly employs more than 100 people and provides more than $4 million in direct salary, wages and benefits.
An independent physician in a rural area supports more than 20 jobs and provides $1 million in economic benefit to their communities.
“The Medicare “extender” provisions are vital to ensuring that rural hospitals, doctors and other health care professionals can provide needed emergency and primary care,” stressed Gail Nickerson, President California State Rural Health Association. “The expiration of Medicare extenders will inhibit the ability of hospitals and providers to recruit and retain professionals, negatively impact patient access, and will have a devastating impact on the economies of our rural communities, because health care is a major employer and business in most rural areas.”
Below is the full text of the letter to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Champ and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.
Dear Chairman Camp and Chairman Baucus,
Rural Americans depend on local community hospitals, clinics and independent practices as vital access points to critical primary, emergency and mental health care. These facilities also provide a significant number of jobs in hard hit rural areas. In fact, a single community hospital can mean as much as 20 percent of total economic activity in small rural communities.
Health Care providers in rural America, though, face significant barriers– remote geographic location, small size, workforce scarcity, physician shortages, unpredictable case and payer mixes, and constrained financial resources. Because of these challenges, Congress has enacted a number of programs that help these facilities and other rural providers recruit and retain skilled practitioners, provide quality outpatient care and respond to emergency health events. These programs, which were extended in P.L. 111-309 and P.L. 112-78, have long received bipartisan support. Other hospital provisions, which expire at the end September, accomplish many of these same goals and their extension is similarly vital.
Across the country, these programs have helped sustain fragile health care delivery systems and ensure that these facilities remain open and that access for rural Americans remains as strong as possible. Because of the vital nature of these facilities and the fragile nature of the delivery system in rural areas, we urge you to extend these vital provisions as part of the conference agreement.
Sincerely,
Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Mike Thompson
David McKinley
Nick Rahall
Bill Owens
Jo Ann Emerson
Shelley Moore Capito
Ruben Hinojosa
Adam Kinzinger
Bobby Schilling
Alcee L. Hastings
Thomas Petri
Mike Ross
John Carter
Tom Latham
Bruce L. Braley
Chris Gibson
Ron Kind
Earl Blumenauer
Peter DeFazio
Maurice Hinchey
Donald Manzullo
Peter Welch
Ed Perlmutter
K. Michael Conaway
Robert J. Wittman
John Garamendi
Reid Ribble
Tammy Baldwin
Sean Duffy