Sierra Vista Regional Health Center

2010 Advocacy Agenda

 

FEDERAL ADVOCACY ISSUES

 

• Oppose The So Called Employees Free Choice Act
• Advocate against the so called Employees Free Choice Act, which would amend the National Labor Relations Act by requiring employers to recognize a labor union solely through the "card check" process, thus permitting unions to avoid secret elections where employees make decisions free from interference. The Act would also allow the imposition of a collective bargaining agreement on an employer.

 

• Support Federal Legislative Initiatives on Health Care Reform
• Support AHA’s initiatives to work with legislators to change the final Health Care bill in the following areas:

  • The number of people who would receive coverage under the bill must be increased, or the hospital payment reductions be lowered
  • The public option, as currently included in the Senate bill, should be dropped in favor of a non-governmental, non-profit co-op approach
  • The hospital readmissions policy must be narrowed to address only truly avoidable readmissions

   

STATE ADVOCACY ISSUES

 

• Reform Arizona’s Medical Liability System
• Support multiple efforts to reform Arizona’s medical liability system, including legislative and judicial efforts to reduce the number of lawsuits filed and the expense of resolving them.

 

• Oppose Mandatory Nurse Staffing Ratios
• Oppose legislation establishing mandatory nurse staffing ratios.
• Support continuation of Arizona Department of Health Services regulations requiring acuity-based staffing to ensure hospital patients receive the safest and most appropriate care.

 

• Support AHCCCS  
• Initiate an updated AHCCCS reimbursement rate review to establish equitable payment rates in order to ensure that the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) hospital payment rates are adjusted in FY 2011 to account for increasing healthcare costs as required by statute, and protect hospitals from additional AHCCCS rate cuts.
• Oppose efforts to cut funding for AHCCCS, KidsCare and KidsCare Parents eligibility and services.
• Oppose efforts to cut Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments, Graduate Medical Education (GME) funds, and Stable, Accessible, Viable and Efficient (SAVE) rural hospitals.

 

• Invest in Arizona’s Healthcare Workforce
• Support efforts to increase the number of nursing faculty at Arizona colleges and universities.
• Continue to support funding for expansion of allied health professions programs at colleges and universities.
• Support legislative and other efforts to increase Arizona’s physician workforce, such as the 2006 recommendations of the governor’s Emergency Medical Services Task Force, as well as continued state support for the expansion of the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

• Preserve Funding for Arizona’s Behavioral Health System
• Support the reinstatement of crisis services for all behavioral health patients presenting in hospital emergency departments and oppose additional funding cuts to Arizona’s behavioral health system.
• Support efforts to increase capacity in Arizona’s behavioral system that reduce overcrowding in hospital emergency departments and ensure patients receive appropriate medical care.