Daily roundup: April 20, 2012

Bite-sized hospital and health industry news

Topics: Around the Nation

April 20, 2012

  • Colorado: The state House on Wednesday approved a bill that would require hospitals to offer discounted health care to uninsured patients whose income is 250% of the federal poverty level or lower. The bill now goes to Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) for his approval (Sealover, Denver Business Journal, 4/18).
  • Louisiana: Louisiana has announced that it is the first state to issue second-year Medicaid incentive payments to a health care provider that demonstrated meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems. Specifically, Winn Community Health Center—a federally qualified rural health center—is the first health care provider in the country to receive the second-year incentive payments, which total $8,500 per eligible provider (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 4/18 [subscription required]).
  • Nebraska: Nebraska lawmakers on Wednesday overrode Gov. Dave Heineman's (R) veto of legislation that would restore prenatal care coverage for low-income, undocumented immigrants. The 30-16 vote came on the final day of the legislative session. Lawmakers had tried to pass a similar bill two years ago but lacked sufficient votes (AP/U-T San Diego, 4/18; Hammel, Omaha World-Herald, 4/19).
  • New York: Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday proposed a law that would require residential building owners to establish a smoking policy and disclose that policy to prospective tenants and buyers. Bloomberg said he proposed the bill as a way to protect residents from secondhand smoke but noted that it is intended to be informational and will not pressure owners into smoking bans (Hartocollis, New York Times, 4/18).

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