Advocacy Updates
What We Are Watching at the Ohio Statehouse
Ohio ACEP is following a number of legislative issues related to the practice of emergency care in the state of Ohio.
Healthcare Workplace Safety Bill Introduced!
Ohio ACEP is excited to be working with bipartisan lawmakers Andrea White and Rachel Baker on legislation to address workplace safety for healthcare providers. On March 20, 2024, they officially introduced House Bill 452. The legislation does the following:
- Requires hospitals to establish security plans for preventing workplace violence and managing aggressive behaviors. Healthcare workers who provide direct patient care will be part of the teams developing the plans. The plan must be based on a security risk assessment that specifically looks at high-risk areas, including the emergency departments.
- Requires at least one employee trained in de-escalation be present at all times in the emergency department. The security plan will also address whether the emergency department needs a trained security/law enforcement officer on duty and what training those personnel shall have.
- Requires hospitals to establish a workplace violence incident reporting system. This system will document, track, and analyze reporting data to inform improvements to workplace safety.
- Require a survey of higher education programs to see if they are teaching future healthcare providers about de-escalation, conflict management and risk identification and assessment.
HB 452 will be considered by the House Public Health Policy Committee. Ohio ACEP looks forward to working in support of this important legislation and making this a key pillar of the upcoming Advocacy Day.
Food Allergy Awareness
Senator Theresa Gavarone has introduced Senate Bill 234 to designate May as Allergy Awareness Month. The month was chosen to align with the national awareness week in May. Senator Gavarone has asked Ohio ACEP to weigh in with support. ACEP recently highlighted a feature on allergies and anaphylaxis. This has been shared with the Senator to use in her efforts.
Hospital Price Transparency
Ohio ACEP has been tracking House Bill 49 regarding hospital price transparency. House Bill 49 passed the House of Representatives back in June of 2023 and has been under consideration in the Senate.
The Senate Small Business and Economic Opportunity Committee accepted a new version of HB 49 on April 9, 2024, changing the bill pretty significantly. A new version generally requires hospitals to comply with the federal transparency law and still creates penalties for non-compliance. Provisions regarding prohibitions on medical bills being sent to collections, going to court over medical debt, and filing reports on medical debt to impact consumer credit scores have been removed.
Provisions were added that would say insurers cannot be required to reimburse hospitals a facility fee for services performed at a location that was previously an independent outpatient physician facility but was purchased by the hospital system.
HPIO Health Dashboard
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio recently released the 2024 Health Value Dashboard. In its coverage, the Cincinnati Enquirer chose to highlight Ohio’s ranking for preventable emergency department visits as a reason for our high healthcare cost, though they did touch on the nuances of lack of primary care access as a reason patients utilize the ED. The full report ranks Ohio 45th in the ED metric; however, the report also indicates that the state has “greatly improved.”
ODH Finalizes OD Reporting Rule
The Ohio Department of Health has finalized a rule requiring hospital emergency departments to report non-fatal drug overdoses within two days of the diagnosis. Hospitals that utilize Clinisync will not have to create a new system or reporting mechanism. According to the Ohio Hospital Association, all their hospitals are connected to Clinisync, so this new rule shouldn’t create a burden. The rule’s official effective date was April 8, 2024. All of the information on the rule can be found here.
Want to Learn More?
If you’re interested in viewing the status of all of the bills Ohio ACEP is tracking, you can find that here.