July 28, 2011, 10:40 am
Amid a public outcry over the $400,000 salary San Diego State University will pay its new president, California Gov. Jerry Brown criticized state university systems for profligate hiring practices, writes the Los Angeles Times.
Governor Brown said California State University and University of California officials favored national searches to recruit highly paid “hired guns” over qualified but potentially less costly executives from within the state.
Trustees of the Cal State system, which includes San Diego State, agreed this month to pay its incoming prsident, Elliot Hirshman, 33 percent more than his predecessor while also voting to increase tuition at the school by 12 percent.
Cal State officials defended Mr. Hirshman’s pay by citing a salary study that found its campus presidents receive just over half the base pay of peers at comparable public and private institutions…
July 28, 2011, 7:32 am
Ten New Hampshire hospitals are suing the state over cuts in Medicaid reimbursements the medical centers say threaten low-income residents’ access to care, Bloomberg BusinessWeek and New Hampshire Public Radio report.
The hospitals told a federal court that the state made deep cuts in repayments solely for budgetary reasons, without regard to what the hospitals needed to treat Medicaid patients.
The New Hampshire budget that took effect July 1 lowers Medicaid payments and does not include a past provision to reimburse hospitals for a state tax on patient revenues, using federal funds. Hospitals say the measure will cost them $250-million over two years, prompting facilities to lay off hundreds of employees and reduce or eliminate some services.
State lawmakers, who passed the cut over the objections of the governor, said they had no comment because they had not yet reviewed the …
July 27, 2011, 1:36 pm
Executives of two of New York’s biggest nonprofit providers of long-term health-care will lead the team drawing up an overhaul of the state’s home-care system, raising questions and criticism from advocates for patients and commercial industry players, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan would shift tens of thousands of homebound elderly and disabled people into managed-care plans, which would charge the state monthly premiums for home care. His administration says for-profit firms are overbilling for home care, and patients would be better off under a more coordinated system.
The administration named Eli Feldman, who heads Metropolitan Jewish Health System, and Carol Raphael, outgoing CEO of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, to chair the 18-member committee developing guidelines for the change. Critics say the nonprofit groups, which handle about a…
July 26, 2011, 8:15 pm
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback appointed six new members to the state Arts Commission that he previously attempted to scuttle, the Associated Press writes.
Governor Brownback, who wants Kansas arts grants to be privately financed and administered by a new foundation, attempted to abolish the commission by executive order in February. After legislators restored the body, the governor eliminated its budget and staff members in a line-item veto, making Kansas the first state to end arts support.
Brownback appointees now represent a majority on the commission, which is chaired by the head of the foundation formed in February to finance arts programs.
A holdover commissioner said Monday that the state will probably be cut off from as much as $1.2-million in National Endowment for the Arts money because the panel cannot supply matching funds. A Brownback spokeswoman disputed this,…
July 26, 2011, 11:06 am
Minnesota’s new two-year budget cuts or delays $435-million in payments to nonprofit health plans that manage subsidized care for half a million low-income residents, reports the Associated Press.
The trims represents nearly 15 percent of the $3-billion in state contracts held by HMO’s and include funds to be withheld unless the plans meet targets for reducing emergency-room visits, hospitalizations, and readmissions.
While their battle over taxes and social spending culminated in the state’s recently ended government shutdown, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican lawmakers were in harmony on efforts to cut health-care spending and scrutinize contracts with providers.
Lucinda Jesson, the state’s human-services commissioner and a Dayton adviser, said the cuts were made “knowing what the industry could bear.” But a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Council of Health Plans…
July 22, 2011, 9:42 am
Massachusetts hospital operator Baystate Health announced Wednesday that it is eliminating 354 jobs and pinned the move on insufficient state Medicaid reimbursements, State House News Service reports.
The nonprofit system, which runs three hospitals in the western part of the state, is projecting a $25-million budget deficit. Baystate officials said the organization’s institutions were underpaid $26.5-million last year for treatment of Medicaid recipients, who represent more than a quarter of their patients.
The state budget signed last week by Gov. Deval Patrick calls for $750-million in savings from Medicaid.
“Massachusetts has expanded and enhanced health care for our residents, which we applaud–but the commonwealth is not paying for these commitments,” said Mark Tolosky, chief executive of Baystate.
Tell us what’s going on in your state. Contact Suzanne Perry to…
July 22, 2011, 9:32 am
Oklahoma officials are meeting with nonprofit leaders to help charities get up to speed on new, stricter regulations on registration and financial reporting, The Oklahoman writes.
The overhaul, which took effect July 1, requires organizations to register annually with the state and keep important documents for at least five years. Professional fund raisers will also be required to register.
State Sen. Susan Paddack, who wrote the bill, and other state officials have briefed hundreds of charity leaders at workshops organized by the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, which supports the changes, saying they will improve the credibility and accountability of the state’s charities.
The new registration process will create a database of organizations that “allows the attorney general’s office to know who the good guys are and who we need to keep an eye on,” said Tom Bates, who heads …
July 21, 2011, 10:20 am
Minnesota nonprofit groups spent Wednesday combing through the state’s new budget, with some saying it could reshape health-care and social-service delivery for years to come, Minnesota Public Radio reports.
The Department of Human Services received a partial reprieve in the $11.4-billion budget signed Wednesday by Gov. Mark Dayton, formally ending the state’s government shutdown. About 40 percent of the $1.4-million in borrowing and delayed payments lawmakers and the governor agreed on to close the state’s deficit will go to the agency, which Republican legislators previously had suggested for deeper cuts.
“We see this budget as protecting the most basic services to people and reshaping delivery so that we can purchase for value,” said Anne Barry, the department’s deputy commissioner.
The budget preserves health-insurance coverage for the poorest Minnesotans but cuts spending …
July 20, 2011, 5:13 pm
New Jersey regulators have proposed a rule that would require charities to tell donors that they can earmark their money for specific programs.
The proposal aims to ensure that donors aren’t being misled by solicitations that highlight programs that may actually get little of the money that is raised.
But it is causing concern at nonprofits in the state, which say that it would be an administrative burden and curtail the ability of charities to decide how best to spend their money.
The proposal, which would apply to charities with at least $250,000 in annual contributions, would require groups to offer pledge or payment forms that allow donors to specify how their money should be spent.
Nonprofits would also have to disclose to donors that their money could be used to pay for administrative and fund-raising costs if they don’t make a choice. It would apply only to…
July 19, 2011, 1:54 pm
Maine Gov. Paul LePage said he will continue to press for a major change in the Medicaid benefits that Maine bestows more generously than all but a handful of other states, the Bangor Daily News reports.
The governor said legislators rejected his plan to cut eligibility for participation in MaineCare, the state’s version of Medicaid, from 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 133 percent, the rate in 47 states, but he added, “We’re going to go back at it in January.”
“We should not be more generous than these other states, but we are and we have been and it needs to stop,” he said, raising concerns that Maine’s looser eligibility will prompt people to move to the state for better benefits.
Critics of the plan said it would remove 30,000 Maine residents from Medicaid coverage and that the 133 percent level of $14,484 for a single adult and $29,726 is not…
State Watch tracks how state and local budgets and policies affect the nonprofit world. Suzanne Perry, a senior editor at The Chronicle covering government issues, seeks ideas and examples for this blog from all 50 states. To share what’s happening in your state, e-mail her or connect with her on Twitter.
Follow
State Watch through your favorite RSS reader.
