• Behavioral Health
  South Carolina’s system of providing care to those in need of behavioral health services is in crisis. The system is severely under-funded and in many communities it is fragmented and poorly coordinated.  Despite the tough economic times, the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) believes it is imperative that we begin reinvesting in our state’s behavioral health care system.  State agencies, private providers, and patient advocacy groups must work collaboratively to strengthen the continuum of care and create statewide protocols to improve treatment for our state’s most vulnerable citizens.
  
  South Carolina hospital emergency rooms have become the safety net for the mentally ill. Far too many South Carolinians suffering from mental illness and/or substance abuse problems are either living on the streets or incarcerated.  Too often, they are dropped off at hospital emergency rooms not equipped to provide the services they need.  They simply have no place else to turn.
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• Cigarette Tax
  SCHA supports increasing South Carolina’s lowest-in-the-nation, seven-cents-per-pack cigarette tax to the national average, which is currently $1.34 per pack. Increasing the state tax on cigarettes is reported to be a highly effective way to reduce smoking and smoking-related death and disease in both adults and youths. Studies indicate that South Carolina could expect long-term health care savings of $1.2 billion from reductions in adult and youth smoking as a result of raising our cigarette tax to the national average.  Not only would this save lives and money, it would also generate $217 million in additional state revenue, providing funding for important health care needs such as protecting the Medicaid program.
  
  Because it is uncertain what obligations states will have if federal health care reform is enacted, any revenue generated from the cigarette tax should be held in a trust fund to meet future health care funding needs.
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• Medicaid
  With providers forced to shift to businesses and their employees the cost of care provided to uninsured South Carolinians, it is imperative that our state maximize its use of the Medicaid program and available federal matching funds.  While hospitals are reimbursed for allowable costs, they contribute $264 million through a statutory tax that helps preserve the state’s health care safety net which the uninsured depend on for needed services.  With Medicaid expansion certain to be part of any health care reform package passed by Congress this year, SCHA believes the state should mount an aggressive outreach program designed to enroll all Medicaid eligible individuals and remove existing barriers to Medicaid enrollment and re-enrollment.
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• Tort Reform
  Recent research shows the average American family pays an additional $1,700 to $2,000 per year in health care costs simply to cover the costs of defensive medicine—that is, providing medical services that are not expected to benefit the patient but that are undertaken to minimize the risk of a subsequent lawsuit.  SCHA supports meaningful medical malpractice reform that discourages the filing of frivolous suits against health care providers by instituting non-binding arbitration for medical malpractice claims with the provision of a “loser pays” rule that applies to the parties that reject the arbitrator’s decision and continue to court.
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• Healthcare Workforce
  The first wave Baby Boomers will reach age 65 in 2011 and our current health care workforce is too small and unprepared for this aging group of citizens. This, combined with any health care reform efforts to increase access to appropriate health care services, will put an immeasurable strain on our capacity to adequately respond to the state’s health care needs. Therefore, South Carolina must start immediately to adequately fund existing educational programs and create bold new initiatives to create an adequate supply of well-trained physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals to meet these growing future needs.
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Download 2010 Legislative Priority flyer (pdf)