Hospitals unhappy about legislation

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Hospitals are crying foul over a slate of bills passed Tuesday that Assembly Democrats say would lower patient costs.

The bills would make various changes to the ways hospitals report their profits, what they charge patients and how much they give back to the community.

More than 300,000 Las Vegas Valley workers almost lost their hospital coverage earlier this year when the Health Services Coalition, representing the workers, was temporarily unable to negotiate a contract for hospital coverage.

While the bills are crafted in response to the crisis, they have consistently split Assembly members down party lines.

Democrats argue that Nevada has the highest hospital costs in the nation, and that out-of-state companies run 80 percent of beds.

"Obviously there's a market here because they keep building more hospitals," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, R-Reno. "But on behalf of our constituents we want to know why Nevadans are paying top dollar for hospital costs, more than any other state in the nation. These bills were an effort to try to get to that cost."

Republicans rallied against the bills in the Assembly, with Assembly Assistant Minority Leader Garn Mabey, R-Las Vegas, saying the bills are giving hospitals "a bad rap." Mabey is a doctor.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said he didn't think "reporting changes much of anything."

"It makes an opportunity to criticize folks, but I don't think it changes costs" he said.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said he was surprised that Republicans voted against his bill to require major hospitals to reinvest 4 percent of their gross revenues into the community. Assembly Bill 322 passed, 26-16.

"At the end of the day you're either going to be for holding costs down or you're not," he said, adding that he was unsure of the bill's fate in the Senate.

Other bills targeting hospitals include:

It would also give uninsured patients a 50 percent discount rather than the 30 percent discount currently offered.

Nevada Hospital Association CEO Bill Welch argues the bills won't lower costs.

"They'll do just the opposite," Welch said. "They'll increase costs, add more fiscal administrative functions. I'm not sure how that reduces costs.

"We as a society and this state Legislature don't want to step up and accept what the real problems are."

The real cause of high costs, Welch said, is the state's high rate of uninsured and Medicaid recipients, mental health patients who visit emergency rooms for care, and the severe shortage of medical personnel.

For example, he said, the county reimburses hospitals $50 for each mental health patient who visits the emergency room. And hospitals must hire more expensive nurses and doctors from services when they run out of personnel, he said.

Welch argues that Nevada's hospitals earn an average of 1.8 percent profit, compared with the national average of about 3.3 percent and the regional average of about 6.6 percent.

"Our profit margin is one of the lowest of any industry in the state," he said.

All four of the bills will now go to the Senate.