CNA Bill Harms the Affordable Care Act and Community Benefit Programs

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 21, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- California's not-for-profit hospitals would find their ability to carry out successful community benefit partnerships greatly harmed if Senate Bill (SB) 346 were passed and signed into law.  SB 346 by Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) would compromise the resources used by hospitals to tailor a wide array of community benefit programs to meet the specific health needs of their community. The bill would replace collaboration and flexibility with arbitrary formulas and rigid requirements that conflict with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

"California's community benefit law has worked so well that it has served as a model for community benefit standards contained in the ACA," said C. Duane Dauner, President/CEO of the California Hospital Association. "SB 346 would undermine this model with mandates that are designed to further a political agenda. This unnecessary bill would rollback our not-for-profit hospitals' efforts to develop and support programs that address the community health needs of California's most vulnerable residents as well as working families.  To fully implement the ACA and establish uniform reporting at the national level, SB 346 must be rejected."

SB 346 marks the third consecutive year that the California Nurses Association (CNA) has pursued changes in the community benefit law in an effort to gain greater bargaining leverage. In 2013 and 2014, similar measures were defeated in the Legislature.  Last year, the state Department of Finance weighed in on the CNA bill, AB 503, also authored by Wieckowski, saying it was "unnecessary and will likely increase costs to the state."        

The California Hospital Association urges lawmakers to reject SB 346 and preserve existing well-planned community benefit programs that are designed to improve community health and build a higher quality of life across California.

SOURCE California Hospital Association