As reported in a previous issue, Congress has adjourned for the year. The State legislature also adjourned prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Medical Liability
Congressman Jim Greenwood visits UPHS to discuss medical malpractice. On November 25th Congressman Jim Greenwood spoke to a packed Austrian Auditorium about the medical malpractice crisis. The Congressman has been a true advocate of medical malpractice reform for many years, as is evidenced by his most recent piece of medical malpractice legislation - the HEALTH Act of 2002 - which has been passed by the House. Greenwood urged physicians to target members of Congress who currently do not support his bill. Government Relations is preparing a physician advocacy campaign for the new session and will be releasing details in a few weeks. We look forward to continuing our work with many of you on this issue.

Abington's trauma center threatens to close. Earlier this week Abington Memorial Hospital notified Pennsylvania emergency response agencies that it might be forced to close its trauma center because of the medical malpractice crisis. This is the third consecutive year that the Montgomery County hospital has said its status as one of the region's 11 trauma centers is endangered because surgeons have had difficulty obtaining affordable medical malpractice insurance. According to a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Abington has notified the Department that the facility will drop the trauma center designation on December 20th.

Federal News
After much debate regarding a key Democratic amendment to strip out unrelated provisions which CMS cracking down on abusive billing practices at hospitals. Under the new initiative hospitals that are receiving portions of their revenue through outlier payments will be more likely to have their charges reviewed and audited. The new initiative deals with federal "outlier" payments, with which the government reimburses hospitals for expenses above what Medicare pays for certain conditions, such as heart surgeries. Allegations have arisen that hospitals may have used the payments to overcharge Medicare. Tenet and other local hospitals have been the focus of recent newspaper articles regarding this issue.

Final HHS Report on Regulatory Reform released. The report, which is titled "Bringing Common Sense to Health Care Regulation," was issued on November 21. The final report outlined 255 specific recommendations for improving regulatory requirements. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have already implemented 26 of the panel's recommendations, such as streamlining Medicare's paperwork requirements for home health agencies and nursing homes and clarifying Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requirements for hospitals to screen and treat emergency department patients. To read the committees final report visit www.regreform.hhs.gov .

Toomey named to policy committee. Congressman Pat Toomey (R-Allentown) will represent New Jersey and Pennsylvania on the House Republican Policy Committee. The committee is chaired by Chris Cox (R-CA).

State
Governor-elect Rendell voices support for additional Trauma Center funding. Earlier this week at the Medical Malpractice Task Force meeting Rendell said that he supported Curt Schroder's (R-Chester) Trauma Stabilization Act. Rendell hopes the legislation will pass early in the new session. The legislation would make $25 million available to ensure that access to trauma care remained available to severely injured people.

Rendell names transition team. Governor-elect Rendell recently named his transition team. Penn Medicine Board Chairman David L. Cohen, will be heading the team as General Chair of the transition effort. Steven Frobuck, John Fry, Barbara Hafer, Arthur Makadon, Sam Staten, and Paul Tufano were named as co-chairs. Former President of Crozer-Keystone Health System and HAP Board Chairman, Jack McMeekin, was appointed to co-chair the transition team for the Department of Health (including the Health Care Cost Containment Council). Karen Feinstein, head of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation of Pittsburgh, was also named to the Department of Health transition team.

Heading the Department of Public Welfare transition team are former Ridge cabinet officer Tom Paese, former DPW secretary Karen Snider, and Philadelphia lawyer Abbe Fletman. Two southeastern PA lawyers, Greg Magarity and Steve Cozen, were named to the Insurance Department transition team.

Art Mann, Chris James Brown, and Pedro Ramos (Chief of Staff to the President of the University and the former President of the Philadelphia School Board) were named to the education team. If you would like a complete list of transition team members please contact Government Relations.

Bard withdraws Insurance limits proposal. Representative Ellen Bard (R-Montgomery) has agreed to withdraw her proposed amendment to an insurance agent licensing bill (Senate Bill 1416) at the request of the Health System and Hospital Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) and the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PMS). While the bill would have limited the amount of recovery for non-economic and punitive damages in medical malpractice actions, it would have had unintended consequences. Representative Bard had good intentions; however by reducing the amount of coverage that physicians would have been required to pay more claims would have been forced into the MCARE fund. In turn, this would have increased MCARE.

House Democrats announce leadership. The State House re-elected Bill DeWeese (D-Greene) as their leader for 2003-2004 and Mike Veon (D-Beaver) as Minority Whip. Steve Stetler (D-York) was successful in defeating Vic Lescovitz (D-Allegheny) as policy chairman. Fred Belardi (D-Lackawanna) was re-elected as caucus administrator, and Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) as minority chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

In Other News
Schweiker named to head Chamber. Mark Schweiker was named as the next President of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. The Presidential position was left vacant with the recent departure of Charlie Pizzi. The Chamber will be merged with Greater Philadelphia First and will retain the Chamber's namesake.

Last chance for Achievement Award Entries. HAP is calling for Hospital Success Stories for the 2003 Achievement awards. If a new employee program has been implemented, a new community outreach initiative enacted, or a safety program created we urge you to toot your own horn to HAP. We are proud to have such committed medical staff at each of our hospitals and we would love to showcase it. Entries must be postmarked by December 16. For more information on HAP's Achievement Awards or to download a registration form, visit HAP's website at or contact Mary Barth at (717) 564-9200.