Announcement

President's Report
by: Rod Betit (August 11, 2006)

Summary: Alaska Court Sides with Fairbanks Memorial Hospital on Question of Whether new Imaging Center is an IDTF and Subject to CON Approval

Full Story: Alaska Court Sides with Fairbanks Memorial Hospital on Question of Whether new Imaging Center is an IDTFl and Subject to CON Approval: The Alaska Superior Court issued a decision this week granting Fairbanks Memorial Hospital’s request for a permanent injunction against Alaska Open Imaging’s new center in Fairbanks. ASHNHA submitted an Amicus Brief in support of FMH’s request (see July 28, 2006 issue of the President’s Report). The Alaska Department of Health & Social Services had previously determined that AOIC was a physician practice and thus not subject to CON review. The Superior Court ruled that the Legislature intended for AOIC and like entities to be treated as IDTFs, and therefore the Department’s regulations were invalid. AOIC has a period of 180 days to shut down their operation in Fairbanks. ASHNHA is not asserting that physician practices are subject to CON review when adding imaging technology to their sites. State law is clear that physician practices have that discretion. However, it is also clear that AOIC is not a physician practice and that the Department erred in granting them an exemption from CON under that theory. ASHNHA congratulates Mike Powers and his legal team for successfully arguing this point in the Alaska Courts. Stay tuned as there is certain to be more developments in this area including a likely appeal by AOIC. ________________________________________ The Alaska Department of Health & Social Services moved quickly to issue proposed changes to the CON regulations deleting the language that lead to the exemption of AOIC’s Fairbanks project from CON Review. Notice of the proposed regulation change was issued Thursday, August 10. Adoption of this change in regulations will bring the Department into compliance with the Alaska Superior Court decision. ________________________________________ Deputy Secretary Alex Azar and his delegation have been traveling the State making stops in a number of communities to gain a better understanding of Alaska’s health care system and issues. Accompanying the Deputy Secretary on these stops is Karleen Jackson, Commissioner DHSS, Rear Admiral Charles Grimm, Director of the Indian Health Service, Jim O’Neill, Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary, Leslie Norwalk, Deputy Administrator CMS, Vince Ventimiglia, Assistant Secretary for Legislation, Quanah Crossland-Stamps, Commissioner of Adminsitration for Native Americans, Laura Caliguiri, Deputy Director DHHS Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, James Whitfield, DHHS Regional Director, Liz Connell, Senior Staff to Senator Ted Stevens, Meredith Sumpter, Health Policy Advisor to Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Cynthia Ahwinona, Legislative Assistant to Congressman Don Young. The delegation has been dividing into two teams to maximize their visitation power during this extended trip. I participated in a discussion with the Deputy Secretary and Leslie Norwalk in Anchorage concerning Alaska’s physician shortage issues. I will also be in Ketckikan Saturday to lend support to Pat Branco’s hosted ‘listening session’ at Ketchikan General Hospital. Moe Chaudry will be hosting a listening session as well at his facility on Friday, August 11. This has been a grueling trip for the Deputy Secretary and his delegation given the many stops he has committed to make in a relatively short time, the transportation challenges under normal circumstances to cover the distances involved (he flew out and back to St Paul Island yesterday in a small plane), and the additional challenges of an elevated security status in the middle of his trip. And he still has a return trip to Washingon, D.C. in front of him. This is the 3rd trip for Alex Azar to Alaska that I know of since he was appointed by Secretary Leavitt which says a great deal for his commitment to Alaska and our issues. Thank you Deputy Secretary Azar for your continued willingness to visit Alaska and for bringing the broad talent of DHHS staff with you! Thank you also to Alaska’s Congressional Delegation staff for taking time to be here as a resource during this trip. We greatly appreciate it!! ________________________________________ The grant documents finalizing ASHNHA’s funding from the Alaska Legislature for $1 million to support the Alaska Rural Teleradiology Network has been received. Please take time to thank your Legislative representatives for their support of this funding. Work is progressing toward implementation of the ARTN and we will give you ongoing updates in the weeks ahead. ________________________________________ Please take time to register for the upcoming Sitka ASHNHA Annual meeting. Most of the Sitka hotel rooms are sold out so we know attendance will be strong but we do not have many actually registered for the meeting. Pre-registration allows us to prepare better for handouts, name tags, breakouts and other activities. You can print a copy of the registration form on line at Registration Form (Ctrl + Click). ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Alaska Regional Hospital, AARP, the American Heart Association, and Alaska DHSS are partnering to bring you the first Alaska Stroke Symposium on September 25, 2006 in Anchorage from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm at Alaska Regional Hospital. The symposium will ‘provide an overview of current practices in the evaluation and management of the acute stroke patient and the future possibilities of stroke care using telemedicine’. Topics include: • The state of stroke in Alaska • Advanced neurointerventional procedures • Tele-stroke and rural evaluation of ischemic stroke Faculty for this event includes: • David Hess, MD, Neurologist, Professor and Chairman of Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia. • Estrada Bernard, MD, Neurosurgeon, Anchorage, Alaska. • Marshall Tolbert, MD, Interventional Radiologist, Anchorage, Alaska. • Brian Trimble, MD, Neurologist, Anchorage, Alaska. For more information or to register for this event contact Justine Muench, RN, Division of Public Health at 907 465-8234 or at Justine_Muench@health.state.ak.us ________________________________________ Upcoming ASHNHA Meetings: • ASHNHA 2006 Annual Meeting – to be held in conjunction with education sessions August 28 through August 31, 2006 in Sitka. The ASHNHA meeting will take place on August 30 & 31. The Shee Atika Totem Square Inn has no hotel rooms left in ASHNHA’s hotel block. ASHNHA has reserved several backup rooms at another hotel so call ASHNHA in Juneau at 586-1790 and we will help connect you with housing in Sitka. If there are other meetings you would like posted please let Rod know at rbetit@ashnha.com

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