Top 10 Legislative Successes

122nd Maine Legislature - 2005-2006

  1. Secured a $3 million General Fund increase in MaineCare (Medicaid) reimbursement for physicians and other individual practitioners, infusing approximately $8.3 million in state and federal dollars into the fee schedule and bringing MaineCare rates up to approximately 53% of Medicare rates.

  2. Negotiated interim payments from the Department of Health & Human Services to assist practices experiencing cash flow problems because of the MaineCare Claims Management System (MECMS) conversion and obtained $1 million to reimburse practitioners for interest costs incurred on lines-of-credit because of problems with the MECMS conversion.

  3. Raised the cigarette excise tax by $1.00 to a total of $2.00 per pack to avoid cuts in state health care programs and to discourage Mainers from smoking.

  4. Enhanced Maine's medical liability laws by enacting a so-called I'm sorry provision prohibiting a practitioner's statement of apology or sympathy to a patient who has experienced an unanticipated outcome of a medical service from being admitted as evidence of liability in a civil action.

  5. Established a process to ensure that accuracy and credibility of physician-specific quality data before its release to the public by the Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO) or the Maine Quality Forum (MQF).

  6. Maintained a provision of the Dirigo Health Program law setting aside 12.5% of the Capital Investment Fund (CIF), the annual cap on spending for health care projects subject to certificate-of-need (CON) review, for non-hospital projects.

  7. Established a maternal and infant death review process so that Maine has a multidisciplinary effort to reduce the rate of maternal and infant death.

  8. Pursued amendments to the MaineCare drug management program to promote the quality of care and reduce the administrative burdens in the prior authorization process.

  9. Protected physicians' interests in the implementation of the access, cost containment, and quality improvement provisions of the Dirigo Health Program.

  10. Increased the upper limit available per physician from $10,000 to $15,000 for medical liability insurance premiums through the Rural Medical Access Program, a state effort to maintain obstetric services in rural areas of Maine.