The bill is more than 800 pages long. It was introduced just days before the early March “Crossover Day,” when a bill must have passed one legislative chamber to have a shot at ultimate approval.

But those impediments did not diminish interest in Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s proposal to restructure the state boards that license tens of thousands of Georgia professionals, including those in several health care professions.

Senate Bill 445 drew a packed hearing room at the state Capitol on Tuesday, as the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee met to consider the licensing legislation.

The debate appeared to center on a fundamental question: Should professionals such as nurses be disciplined and overseen by a board of their peers, or by an independent, seven-member consumer board, as Kemp is proposing?

Kemp explained the legislation as an attempt to redirect the resources in his office — which has taken a 17 percent funding cut over the past four years — and streamline procedures of 43 professional licensing boards. The bill is so long because of heavy cross-referencing to various other laws, he explained.

The bill would create a new position, director of professional licensing, and establish the seven-member consumer board that would decide disciplinary action for all the professions. The current professional boards would still exist but would focus on policy.

A restructuring, Kemp said, would reduce wait times for routine licensing and make the process more efficient. Last year, he said, his office fielded 58,000 calls from applicants asking about the status of their licenses.

Despite Kemp’s strong pitch, his proposal drew unanimous opposition from representatives of health care associations and licensing boards who testified at Tuesday’s hearing. Most stressed patient safety in their arguments against changing the system.

The Georgia Nurses Association said the Board of Nursing’s efficiency has shown significant improvement recently. “We’re not clear that the total restructuring of the board is needed,’’ said Debbie Hatmaker of GNA.

The nurses’ organization says license revocation, discipline and complaints are best regulated by those who are professionally educated to interpret the complexities of health care. Read More

Georgia could become the first state to require drug testing of Medicaid applicants, if a Senate bill becomes law.

That’s according to a Department of Community Health official, who was asked by a state senator at a legislative hearing Monday whether other states have such a requirement.

Senate Bill 292, sponsored by Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell), also would require drug tests for welfare applicants.

Claudette Bazile, the Community Health official, told the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that a federal agency has not approved any state for such a mandate. She said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) denied requests by Alaska and Idaho to drug-test Medicaid applicants.

A major change to a state’s Medicaid program must be approved by CMS.

Albers defended his proposal before the state Senate panel, saying it would create “a level playing field’’ for Georgians, because applicants for some private-sector jobs are required to take drug tests.

A central goal of the legislation is to ensure that government funds are used “for the intended purpose of alleviating the effects of poverty and are not diverted to illicit drug use.’’

“We have to challenge the status quo,’’ Albers said Monday. ”True compassion is what’s best for people, not what’s easiest.’’

He said the legislation would save the state money.

Yet a financial analysis of the bill by the Department of Audits and Accounts, dated Jan. 18, projected the cost of drug testing at $3.8 million to $31.5 million annually. Read More

Elbert Memorial Hospital, facing major financial challenges, is seeking a larger hospital as a partner.

“We keep losing patients, losing revenue and also doctors in the past several years,” said Jim Lloyd, chairman of the Elberton-Elbert County Hospital Authority. “We need someone with assets and capital to take us forward.”

Elbert Memorial Hospital, a 47-bed facility serving Elbert County since 1950, terminated its management contract with Quorum Health Resources last September. Quorum is a national company that manages 150 hospitals across the United States.

“We are not interested in any other management contracts at this point,” Lloyd said at the Hospital Foundation’s annual meeting of the Endowment Advisory Board in January.

Like other small hospitals, Elbert Memorial has been struggling financially for several years. Many of the hospital’s patients are uninsured or covered by Medicare or Medicaid, while an increasing number of better-insured and private-pay patients travel to Athens for their care.

Elbert County, in northeast Georgia on the South Carolina line, was important in the state’s early history but has remained mostly rural. The granite industry is one of its chief employers.

A wave of hospital consolidation and partnerships has swept across Georgia over the past year, as various medical centers look to cut costs and position themselves in a fast-changing health care marketplace. Read More

Nine years ago, Carla Harrison of Augusta weighed 381 pounds.

“I was brought up with cornbread and to throw a little grease into the food,’’ she said.

Harrison said some family members were also large, and she herself, in addition to being overweight, had high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol and was pre-diabetic.

Then, in 2003, she had gastric bypass surgery, paid for by her health insurance.

“Right away, I started losing weight,’’ Harrison said. “I lost 160 pounds in the first year.’’

In all, she lost about 200 pounds. Now 52, she exercises regularly, eats healthier and has quit smoking. “I feel fabulous,’’ she said. “My heart is great.’’

Harrison came to the state Capitol on Wednesday to testify to lawmakers about the state’s removal of bariatric surgery as a covered benefit in the state employees’ health plan.

In other health care activity at the General Assembly, a bill that would require drug tests for applicants for welfare and Medicaid benefits passed a Senate subcommittee. And a proposal to require schools to train personnel to help students manage their diabetes passed the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Eliminating the bariatric surgery benefit was just one way state officials are seeking to reduce the massive shortfall in the State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP), which covers almost 700,000 state employees, teachers, retirees, school workers, and dependents. Read More

Usually at the midpoint of a Georgia General Assembly session, health care industry groups are scrambling to prevent deep cuts in the budgets of Medicaid and other government programs.

Not so this year.

Hospitals, doctors and other medical providers appear fairly satisfied with the budget news so far, halfway through the legislative session.

They see no major reductions in the Medicaid or PeachCare programs, either in services, benefits or payments.

A proposed 0.5 percent cut in doctors’ pay under those two programs has been eliminated. And the administration is adding $4.6 million in state funds to raise several PeachCare payment rates for physicians and hospitals. Those funds would offset the movement of thousands of children from the state employee health plan to the PeachCare program, which pays providers less for services.

The hospital provider tax will remain unchanged this year as well.

“It’s a pretty quiet year,’’ said Tim Sweeney, senior health care analyst at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, in a recent interview. “There’s nothing really big and dramatic.’’

Given that the state’s economy remains weak, the budgetary situation could have been far worse for the health industry. But cuts and changes in some programs — ranging from children’s services to the state employee health plan — have raised concerns among lawmakers and advocacy groups. Read More