Support HB 307, the Provider Payment Agreement

The Boards of GHA, the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, and Hometown Health have worked together to approve a hospital provider payment agreement with the state that sets the best course of action for health care during these difficult economic times. After careful deliberations, GHA and the other hospital associations are confident that this proposal, while far from perfect, reaches a compromise that we all agree is much more palatable than the removal of the sales tax exemption for not-for-profit hospitals and/or a 10.25 percent Medicaid rate cut, either of which jeopardize our ability to serve our patients. (Highlights of the agreement can be found by clicking here.)

It is important to emphasize that all three organizations stand unified in this proposal and need your help urging passage of this legislation during these final hours before the March 26 Crossover Day. Even though hospitals support this provider payment agreement, House and Senate leaders need enough votes to pass this agreement. It is imperative that all Georgia hospital CEOs contact their elected officials immediately and ask them to support this new provider payment agreement.

Please join us in the critical passage of the Provider Payment Agreement. We appreciate your support and trust in these crucial matters and welcome any feedback or questions you may have.

You can help by asking your legislators to support HB 307, the Provider Payment Agreement. Please send your elected officials a message NOW...we need your help immediately. To find your legislator's email address, follow these instructions:

1. If you know who your state senator and state representative are, use the links below to obtain their email address. The link will take you to a list; click the name of your legislator, and you will see a link for their email address.

        Georgia State Senators             Georgia State Representatives

2. If you do not know who your legislators are, click here to find who represents you. When you select your elected official, you will see a link to his or her email address.

3. Copy the following text and paste it into your email to the legislator.

I am writing in support of my hospital to ask for your YES vote on HB 307, the “Provider Payment Agreement Act” by Representative Jim Cole.

This bill will generate a net of $175 million for the state to help with the unprecedented budget crisis, while also providing a crucial increase in Medicaid rates to help our communities’ most important asset…their hospitals, which help to ensure the health of Georgia’s citizens.
 
Of the alternatives presented by the Governor and Legislative Leadership, HB 307 represents the only choice for my hospital's ability to continue providing for the health care needs of patients in the future, while also doing it’s part to help meet the state’s budget requirements. The payment agreement represents a compromise that is far more palatable than the removal of the sales-tax exemption for not-for-profit hospitals and/or a 10.25 percent Medicaid rate cut, either of which would exacerbate the cost shift to our business community and jeopardize our hospitals’ ability to serve the Georgia’s patients.
 
The Georgia Hospital Association, the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals and Hometown Health stand unified in this payment agreement and ask for your support of this legislation. In these difficult economic times, our boards wholeheartedly concur that this plan is the best way to preserve the long-term viability of the Georgia hospital community. Simply put, the alternatives to this agreement would be devastating to all Georgia hospitals and those we serve.

On behalf of hospitals, patients, volunteers and the more than 138,000 hospital employees, I urge you to oppose Medicaid rate cuts and the sales-tax exemption elimination...and VOTE YES on HB 307.

Thank you!