New bill introduced by Rep. Green offers viable solution for ending Michigan’s catastrophic care crisis
New bill introduced by Rep. Green offers viable solution for ending Michigan’s catastrophic care crisis
Judd: HB 5698 will help restore continuum of care accident victims were promised
BRIGHTON, Mich.—(Jan. 26, 2022)—The Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council today applauded the introduction of a new bill that adequately addresses the care crisis for catastrophic car crash victims who require residential programming and in-home healthcare.
Introduced by State Rep. Phil Green, HB 5698 will allow crash victims to receive the short-term intensive rehabilitation programming and long-term care in the least restrictive environment by qualified specialists that understand how to provide the services they need and deserve, said Tom Judd, MBIPC president.
“We would like to thank Representative Phil Green and all those that went into drafting this most recent viable solution to Michigan’s catastrophic care crisis,” Judd said. “For months leading up to the implementation date of July 2, crash victims, families, and compassionate mission-driven providers urged the legislature to take action; unfortunately, they passed on several opportunities, resulting in the chaos, uncertainty, and suffering that many have endured. We are hopeful that the House moves quickly to pass HB 5698 and urge the Senate to do the same, getting the bill to Governor Whitmer for signature without unnecessary delay.”
HB 5698 also addresses barriers to access to care for crash victims that require certain essential rehabilitative services. Since its implementation, insurers were permitted to take advantage of the language of the law by reimbursing services well below the intended 200% of Medicare rate. This bill does what a fee schedule intends by bringing predictability and consistency to those services that have payable Medicare codes, allowing expert providers to provide rehabilitation services that helps people recover from a life-altering car crash.
However, there remains many important services, products, and accommodations that are subject to the arbitrary 55% reimbursement cut, Judd said.
“Services such as case management, transportation, durable medical equipment, pharmacy services, home and vehicle modifications and many others continue to face the unreasonable and unsustainable requirement to maintain operations at a 50% funding cut,” he said. “For these reasons, we strongly urge the House to pass HB 5500, introduced by State Rep. Bob Bezotte, in conjunction with HB 5698. Together, these bills help restore the continuum of care in Michigan for car crash survivors that have paid for and been promised lifetime care.”
A recent survey from the nonprofit public health institute MPHI found that in just the first four months since the implementation of the 45% cap on care, 1,548 auto crash survivors have been discharged, 3,049 jobs have been eliminated, 96 companies are now unable to accept referrals with auto insurance funding, and 21 companies have completely closed down operations. Meanwhile, nearly 90% of the 273 respondents said they would be unable to serve auto crash survivors within the next 12 months without a fix like HB 5698.
Momentum for a fix has been growing in recent weeks. The editorial board of Crain’s Detroit Business—the most influential business publication in the state—was the latest to weigh in, writing in a Jan. 21 editorial that “it's time for the state Legislature to address this literal life-and-death problem.”
Michigan’s two largest counties—Wayne and Oakland—recently unanimously passed resolutions calling on the Legislature to pass a fix to the 45% cut in care for those who have suffered catastrophic injuries in car crashes, while a December 2021 analysis from the University of Michigan Poverty Solutions Center found that “the method used to cap medical fees may be unnecessarily stringent and out of line with national peers, causing a crisis in access to care for victims of catastrophic accidents.”