Monday Quick Hits: Hot Policy Topics for This Week

North Carolina:

This week the North Carolina House Appropriations committee will hold a public meeting to receive input on the state budget. We will be posting more information about this event as it becomes available.

The North Carolina Senate Finance committee is still working on their tax package.  The last word on this was that there may not be a vote on it this week but there will be a lot more discussion on it this week.

The April numbers look a bit better than expected, according to Governor Perdue.  What this will mean for House leaders as they work on the budget is anyone's guess.

Here is what to look for this week.

Bills to Watch for the Week:

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

On Tuesday, House HHS Appropriations Subcommittee will discuss the Continuation Reviews and Screening Updates with Dick Clifford, from Frank Porter Graham.  There will also be a continuation of the discussion regarding the merger of More at Four and SmartStart.

House Judiciary I will take up House Bill 925-Data Sharing/DHHS Agencies. This bill will authorize the sharing of confidential information among agencies of the Department of Health and Human services in order to conduct quality assessment and improvement activities and coordinate appropriation and effective care, treatment, or habilitation of DHHS clients. This bill received a favorable report when it was debated in the House Health Committee.  This is the final committee for this bill prior to heading to the House floor.

Also on Tuesday, the House Health committee will take up House House Bill 1339-DHHS Study/Medical Provider Rates. This bill will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study of provider medical rates to determine the equity of existing rates among providers. The study would focus on the cost of providing services, capital costs, and medical malpractice insurance and a review of medical providers for a stand-alone payment method, including the consideration of a private consultant to perform the rate-setting process.  The report is due back to Senate and House HHS Appropriations no later than October 1, 2009.