New hospital review board bill signed into law

Gov. Matt Meyer signed into law a new hospital review board bill Jan. 30, one day before the deadline the state had agreed to in order to settle a lawsuit filed by ChristianaCare against an earlier law requiring board approval of hospital budgets.

Under the new law, the Diamond State Review Board no longer has the power to approve hospital budgets, a concession made after Christiana filed a Chancery Court lawsuit two years ago against a law that gave the board that power.

Brian Frazee, president and CEO of the Delaware Healthcare Association, thanked the Meyer administration and General Assembly for their swift action in passing the new law, ending the two-year debate that started with the previous bill, House Bill 350.

“We have always shared the same goals – high-quality, accessible and affordable healthcare for all Delawareans – and now we can move forward together. Delaware hospitals continue to support transparency and accountability to drive affordability,” Frazee said in a statement. “As we face unprecedented uncertainty on the national level, solving for healthcare at home deserves an all-hands-on-deck collaborative approach.”

Under the new law, the board will continue to review detailed budget information for hospitals annually, but will evaluate hospitals based on actual expenditure and revenue information for the most recent year, rather than prospectively approving future budgets.

Before the House passed the bill Jan. 29 by a 33-7 vote with one not voting, Rep. Valerie Jones-Giltner, R-Georgetown, took issue with bill language that allows the Consumer Price Index to be used for the spending benchmark, instead of a medical price index.

“When you look at how we’ve defined spending benchmark in code and what we are basing this bill on – again, saying they have to stay within it or they’ll be put on a plan – it comes down to the fact that we don’t know how to measure them,” she said. 

Jones-Giltner said it is unclear how hospital costs will be determined, even though the bill requires it.

“For that, I think this is a sheer placebo. It is a sugar pill. It will not remedy the cost increases that we’re seeing with healthcare, and you should not tell your constituents that it will,” she said.

Jones-Giltner said out-patient costs, not just hospital costs, are driving up costs.

“We’re attacking the hospital costs here. When you’re looking at the total costs, this is not marrying with how total costs are calculated when you’re looking at patient populations,” she said.

The bill unanimously passed the Senate Jan. 20.