House Majority Whip Kerri Evelyn Harris, D-Dover.

legis.delaware.gov

Speaker of the House Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear.

Photo courtesy of legis.delaware.gov

House Minority Leader Mike Ramone, R-Newark.

legis.delaware.gov

House Minority Whip Lyndon Yearick, R-Magnolia.

legis.delaware.gov.

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By Joseph Edelen

DOVER — Less than a day after being introduced in the House of Representatives, a bill implementing a more flexible price cap for services tied to the proposed Delaware hospital cost review board was released from the House Administration Committee.

Speaker of the House Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear - who is leading the effort to establish the Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board, which would review and approve these entities’ annual budgets – made a successful motion to suspend rules during Wednesday's meeting so that the new bill, House Bill 395, could be considered.

Under the proposal, a provision in Rep. Longhurst’s House Substitute 2 for House Bill 350 would be replaced with a more adaptable clause based on the core Consumer Price Index for the Wilmington, Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey region, plus one point.

The Delaware Healthcare Association – which represents Delaware’s five non-profit hospitals – had pushed back on Rep. Longhurst’s bill for its cap on hospitals’ ability to charge more than 250% of Medicare’s cost for services; something hospital stakeholders say would slash more than $360 million in resources, resulting in cuts to their workforce and community programs.

“This was one of their biggest issues. By bringing this bill forward, the hospitals… they wanted this piece of it. So, this kind of moves our conversation in a way that we're finding consensus with hospitals,” Rep. Longhurst explained to committee members.

House Majority Whip Kerri Evelyn Harris, D-Dover, who is leading House Bill 395, said that, upon receiving further information that is not publicly available, some Delaware hospitals were shown to be charging payers above the 250% Medicare threshold, and in some cases, as high as 390%.

“While I'm alarmed at how high these prices are - nearly four times higher than Medicare and three times higher than national averages - I don't want to cut services to our hospitals,” she said.

Hospitals in Kent and Sussex counties would have been disproportionately impacted without the companion bill, Rep. Harris said while noting that the new proposal allows entities to continue growing budgets at a more sustainable pace from their current position.

Following explanation of the bill, House Minority Whip Lyndon Yearick, R-Magnolia, pushed back on the timeline of the legislation’s consideration. With the suspension of rules, House Bill 395 was considered less than 24 hours after its introduction and was not advertised for consideration on the committee’s agenda.

“HB 350 is moving quickly through the Senate; this idea of (consumer price index) was introduced on the House side as a possibility for an amendment,” Rep. Harris said in response.

“Originally, the hospitals said yes, and then they said no in conversations, but upon review and discussing it with stakeholders, it turns out making sure that we have this (consumer price index) intact is most beneficial to hospitals.”

House Republican leadership then suggested amending House Bill 350 with the provisions included in House Bill 395 instead of moving a separate bill through the legislative process.

During House Bill 350’s consideration in the Senate Executive Committee on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, D-Newark, who is leading Rep. Longhurst’s bill in the upper chamber, noted the changes could be worked through as an amendment or a separate bill.

But following the bill’s hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Longhurst and Sen. Townsend released a statement in which they committed to passing House Bill 395 as a companion to the original proposal, which was reiterated by the House speaker on Wednesday.

After debate, House Bill 395 was released from committee along party lines, though the House Republican leaders disagreed with the expedited process both bills are undergoing.

House Minority Leader Mike Ramone, R-Newark, referenced House Bill 350’s lengthy committee hearing, and its consideration on the floor April 25,  when House Democrats stymied a Republican filibuster by invoking a chamber rule that suspended debate with a vote after five Democratic lawmakers rose on the floor.

“When you learn from behavior that was probably not optimal, to repeat it immediately after with another bill is preposterous,” Rep. Ramone told the Daily State News.

“We went through two very unorthodox meetings with (House Democrats) telling us there aren't any unintended consequences (to House Bill 350), and now, it's suddenly such an overt unintended consequence that we have to suspend rules in a committee meeting that we haven't told anybody about.”

In reference to Tuesday’s introduction of House Bill 395, Rep. Yearick and his colleague were notified of the legislation around 3:00 p.m., he said, adding that it was an indication of a possible suspension of rules in committee.

“(House Bill 395) may be a great piece of legislation - maybe a fix - but the self-generated sense of urgency to circumvent rules and processes for something that hasn't even passed the Senate yet - House Bill 350 - just seems like some individuals are trying to save face,” Rep. Yearick said.

“It may make it better, but why not run it through more of the traditional time and process to truly allow all these conversations to be had?”

During Tuesday’s consideration of the hospital cost review board bill in the Senate committee, Delaware Healthcare Association president and CEO Brian Frazee said, while the organization had not yet seen the language of House Bill 395, they appreciated the effort to curb the original provision, which would “have a catastrophic impact.”

Following House Bill 395’s release from committee, it heads to the ready list for consideration on the House floor.