Ten more pre-filed bills to watch
Last week, Alabama Today looked ahead at the coming 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. We looked at ten of the more interesting of the 36 bills that had been pre-filed at that time. Since then, 22 more bills have been pre-filed by legislators. As more bills have been pre-filed, we look at ten more bills that could become law this year. House Bill 34 was introduced by Rep. Tracy Estes (R-Winfield). HB34 would provide that it is unlawful to discharge a firearm on school property. Under existing law, it is already unlawful to discharge a firearm into an occupied or unoccupied school building. This bill would make a person who shoots or discharges a firearm into an occupied school bus or school building guilty of a Class B felony. A person who shoots or discharges a firearm into an unoccupied school bus or school building shall be guilty of a Class C felony. House Bill 40 was introduced by Rep. Jim Hill (R-Odenville). Under existing law, retired justices and judges may be called to active duty status and are compensated for their service. This bill would provide that retired justices and judges receive per diem, mileage, and be provided court-supportive personnel. This bill would require retired justices and judges to complete at least six hours of approved continuing legal education annually. House Bill 31 was sponsored by Rep. Artis “A.J. McCampbell (D-Livingston). Under existing law, a public K-12 school or school district determined to have poor performance is labeled by the State Superintendent of Education as failing to make adequate progress or as a failing school under the school grading system. Also, under existing law, the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013 provides financial assistance through an income tax credit to a parent who transfers a student from a failing public school to a nonfailing public school or nonpublic school of the parent’s choice. HB31 would change the designation of a failing school to a fully supported school and the designation of a nonfailing school to a non-fully supported school for the purposes of school grading and the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013 and would require the State Board of Education to reflect those changes in terminology when amending or adopting rules. House Bill 43 is sponsored by State Rep. Pebblin Warren (D-Tuskegee). Under existing law, a child six years of age on or before December 31 is entitled to admission to the first grade in public elementary schools, and a child five years of age on or before September 1 is entitled to admission to the local public-school kindergarten. HB43 would allow a child who becomes six years of age between September 1 and December 31 to be admitted to the first grade as long as they have completed kindergarten or otherwise demonstrates first-grade readiness. This mandatory kindergarten bill has passed the House of Representatives in the past two years but failed in the Senate. This bill would also allow a child under five years of age on September 1 to be admitted to public kindergarten under certain circumstances. House Bill 46 is sponsored by Rep. Allen Treadaway (R-Morris). This bill would permit any individual retired under the Employees’ Retirement System, who was classified as a law enforcement officer, to perform duties as a school resource officer without suspension of his or her retirement allowance. House Bill 36 was sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur). Under existing law, the Solid Waste and Recyclable Materials Management Act regulates the disposal and recycling of solid waste and recyclable materials. This bill would define “advanced recycling” as a manufacturing process to convert post-use materials such as plastics into recycled products. This bill would specify that advanced recycling at an advanced recycling facility would not be considered solid waste disposal or incineration under the solid waste act. Term in the definition of solid waste. This bill would also define “mill scale and slag” and include the term in the definition of solid waste. House Bill 38 was also sponsored by Rep. Hill. Under existing law, a judge must sentence an offender convicted of a nonviolent offense pursuant to the presumptive sentencing standards. This bill will allow a judge to deviate from the presumptive sentencing guidelines if a defendant is convicted after requesting a trial. House Bill 28 is sponsored by Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa). Under existing law, persons with a lawful pistol permit may possess their gun on school property. This bill would remove this exemption so that even a person with a concealed carry permit may not carry a gun on school grounds. House Bill 45 is sponsored by Rep. Jeremy Gray (D-Opelika). This bill would create the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act. It would require the State Board of Education to adopt certain guidelines to inform and educate student-athletes, parents, and coaches about the signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest. This bill would require each student-athlete and his or her parent or guardian to provide written acknowledgment of receipt of information about sudden cardiac arrest before the student may participate in any athletic activity. HB45 would require a student who passes out, faints, or exhibits symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest to be pulled from the athletic activity and would prohibit the student from returning to the athletic activity until an appropriate medical professional provides written clearance for their return. This bill would require each coach of an athletic activity to receive annual training relating to sudden cardiac arrest and would provide that a coach may be suspended if he or she does not complete the necessary training or if he or she fails to pull a student from an athletic activity for fainting or exhibiting symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest. This bill would protect a coach from liability related to a student who exhibits symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest unless the coach is reckless or grossly negligent. House Bill 25 was introduced by Rep. Parker Moore (R-Decatur). Under existing law, when an offender has previously been convicted of any three or more felonies or has been previously convicted of two or more Class A or Class B felonies and subsequently commits a Class D felony, he or she is sentenced as if he or
Tommy Tuberville praises Huntsville’s National Children’s Advocacy Center
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville on Monday highlighted the important work and world-class counseling services led by the National Children’s Advocacy Center (NCAC) in Huntsville. Sen. Tuberville visited the NCAC last week and was impressed by what he learned during his briefing and tour of the campus from Executive Director Chris Newlin and members of his team. “The National Children’s Advocacy Center in Huntsville is a global leader in services, investigations, and counseling for children who suffer physical and sexual abuse,” Tuberville said in a speech on the floor of the Senate. “The center’s work is important, and I’m proud to share that work today.” “Studies show that there are several long-term effects of child abuse,” Tuberville said. “These include delayed brain development, lower educational success, and limited career opportunities. Victims are also more likely to suffer from future abuse, drug usage, and medical complications. Additionally, they are less likely to own cars, buy homes, [and] engage in business, making them less likely to be able to support a family in the future.” “Founded in 1985, the National Children’s Advocacy Center — also called the NCAC — is stepping up to save lives and offer hope to thousands and thousands of young people,” Tuberville continued. The NCAC in Huntsville has established more than 1,000 children’s advocacy centers operating in the United States and in 41 countries across the globe. Their work serves thousands and thousands of kids every year.” “The center’s reach does not end in Alabama — it has expanded across the country and across the world,” Tuberville said. “In 2021, over 30,000 child abuse professionals from 50 states and 17 countries received NCAC training, and more than 400,000 children were served just in 2021. Alabama’s network of children’s advocacy centers now includes 47 different locations that have conducted tens of thousands of counseling sessions each year. And thanks to their work, more abusers have been brought to justice. Communities with Children’s Advocacy Centers have seen a 196% increase in felony prosecutions of child sexual abuse.” “During my visit, the center’s Executive Director Chris Newlin shared that one in ten American children today will be victims of abuse before the age of 18,” Tuberville said. “This is horrific, it’s unacceptable, and it’s embarrassing to our country.” “Nearly 600,000 kids in the United States were abused in 2021,” Tuberville stated. “Child abuse cases in Alabama have increased throughout the years, with more than 12,000 victims reported in 2018, costing the state of Alabama $3.7 billion dollars.” The most common form of abuse is neglect. The NCAC is holding its International Symposium on Child Abuse in Huntsville on March 20 to 23. Nineteen countries will send representatives. Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino will be the keynote speaker. Tuberville is in his first term representing Alabama in the United States Senate. Tuberville spent 40 years as a teacher and a coach before successfully running for the Senate in 2020 – defeating incumbent Sen. Doug Jones in a landslide victory for the GOP – even though the national election that year favored Democrats. Tuberville serves on the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and HELP Committees. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Daniel Sutter: ChatGPT and the future
The artificial intelligence (AI) platform ChatGPT has created a sensation since debuting in late 2022. ChatGPT can produce papers of comparable quality to college students. AI’s progress raises the specter of humans possibly becoming redundant. ChatGPT’s creator, OpenAI, was started in 2015 with a founding board including Elon Musk and Peter Theil. OpenAI was originally a non-profit organization but now also has a for-profit company valued, following the release of ChatGPT, at over $30 billion. Does AI promise a bright or nightmarish future? This depends on whether machines remain under human control or if malevolent machines emerge. I can barely use my phone, so I cannot offer insight here. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks out-of-control AI could wipe out humanity, so the nightmare is not just science fiction. The future is very bright if we retain control over AI. Yes, AI will change how we do things, but economics shows that humans need not fear becoming useless. AI and smart machines will not eliminate scarcity or the principle of comparative advantage. Scarcity means that our wants and desires exceed our capacity to satisfy them. Our limited ability to produce goods, services, and life experiences requires resources to be used carefully. Smart machines require significant investment to develop and resources to operate. AI is not a free good, even if ChatGPT is currently available without charge. The principle of comparative advantage demonstrates that specialization based on talents benefits all parties. The key here is relative talents, not absolute abilities. We need not be better than AI, just relatively better at certain tasks. Comparative advantage is why a market economy is not survival of the fittest. AI forces us to rethink our comparative advantages. ChatGPT is currently imperfect (it creates fiction or “hallucinations”), but machines will soon be capable of doing much of our writing. Thousands of people currently earn their living writing in various ways, from novels, poems, and plays to technical manuals and travel stories. Much of my job (these columns, my professional research) involves writing. How will this change? For perspective, consider students writing papers with ChatGPT. This original content would evade plagiarism detection software. Yet ChatGPT is hardly the first way students could cheat. Students today can purchase papers written by others in the college “cheating industry.” AI provides original papers at a lower cost. ChatGPT is another writing tool, like typewriters and word processors. Keep focused on comparative advantage. AI might perhaps generate first drafts of new columns or papers writers can personalize through revisions. Some scholarly papers already list ChatGPT as a co-author. AI lets us do things we currently do faster, allowing us to do more or have more free time. Readers will help determine if AI totally replaces human writers. Will we read machine-written travel stories, or should the words reflect the impressions of another human being? If the latter, the challenge will be guaranteeing human-generated content. I’ll leave the technical details for others. Many websites already feature audio versions of pieces; we might see more blending of a contributor’s voice, face, and words. Whether we enjoy doing tasks will also affect automation. Craft production illustrates the tradeoff. Small breweries, vineyards, family farms, and hand-made products do not fully exploit mass production. People both enjoy making and drinking craft beer, so it survives despite higher production costs. I suspect people will want to express their thoughts and emotions through fiction for years to come. Others will want to do and publish research. These will persist. I suspect AI will write our technical manuals. Machines will have awesome power but require investment, while people can quickly learn and master complicated tasks. Humans will always possess some comparative advantages over AI. We will be able to do more or have more free time as smart machines do more for us. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Alabama has the third most endangered animal species
A recent study showed that Alabama has the third most animal species listed as being on the brink of extinction compared to other states. Using data from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Environmental Conservation Online System, the Special Reports Team at Veterinarians.org has compiled a list of the top 10 states in the nation with the most endangered animals. Alabama ranks number three for the most endangered animal species. Alabama has 64 species currently listed as endangered. The endangered animals in Alabama include the West Indian Manatee and the Northern Long-Eared Bat. California leads the entire nation with 74 endangered animal species. Tennessee was second with 66 endangered species. Texas was next on the list at fourth with 51 species, followed by Virginia with 41 at fifth, Hawaii was sixth with 40, and Florida was in seventh place with 35 species. Kentucky was eighth with 31 species. The states of Mississippi, Arizona, and Georgia are tied for ninth, each with 26 endangered species. In 1973, the U.S. Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to protect vanishing native flora and fauna. The Department of Interior maintains the list and is primarily regulated by the USFWS. Scientists estimate that almost 100 species (plants and animals) have become extinct in Alabama since colonial times. Many of the Alabama animals on the list are freshwater mussels. Animals are considered endangered by the IUCN when their population has declined between 50 and 70 percent. This is not from its historic populations but is measured over the past ten years or three generations of the species. The state has seen some species go extinct. Notably, the last eastern cougar in the world was killed in St. Clair County in 1947. The eastern cougar was officially declared extinct in 2018 after a seven-year review by the USFWS. Once common, the last passenger pigeon in Alabama was killed in Hale County in 1887. The last passenger pigeon in the world died in a zoo in 1914. Alabama has also been the site of some tremendous success stories. The bald eagle was endangered, as was the American alligator. Now both are increasingly common in the state. The whitetail deer was on the verge of being eradicated in the state a hundred years ago. The state made heroic efforts on the part of two generations of Department of Conservation workers to trap deer in that herd remnant in Marengo County and then restock them across the state. Now deer are found in all 67 counties. Habitat loss, disease, predation, and other natural or man-made factors also play a role. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Mike Rogers believes public deserves to know true origins of COVID-19
Congressman Mike Rogers believes the public has a right to know where the COVID-19 virus originated. This comment was in response to revelations that the U.S. Department of Energy now accepts as likely the theory that the COVID-19 global pandemic probably originated in a lab in China rather than as something that naturally occurred. That theory was almost as old as the virus itself but was denounced by the media and many government agencies as a “fringe” conspiracy theory. Increasingly though, a growing number of official voices acknowledge that they now accept the theory as likely factual. Following the revelation that the Energy Department accepts that the global pandemic was likely the result of some sort of an escape from a laboratory, many Republicans are demanding answers. “Republicans were written off as conspiracy theorists for claiming that COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan lab,” Rep. Rogers told Alabama Today via email. “Now that the Department of Energy has concluded that a lab leak is indeed the likely origin of COVID-19, the Biden White House remains curiously silent. The public deserves to know the origins of this disease, and any effort by the Biden administration to mislead the public on that front is shameful.” U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton had suggested that the disease resulted from a lab leak as early as Feb. 2020. He was slammed for it by the New York Times and the mainstream media. Now Cotton wants answers. “China’s lab leak, being proven right doesn’t matter,” said Sen. Cotton on Twitter. “What matters is holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable so this doesn’t happen again.” “The elites and academics owe everyone who had legitimate questions and concerns about the origins of COVID an apology,” Rep Ken Buck said on Twitter. “The American people deserve to see all the information concerning the Chinese lab leak and the origins of COVID. This won’t be forgotten.” The FBI also reportedly has come to the same conclusion – that the COVID-19 global pandemic had nothing to do with a natural disease outbreak from an infected animal at a meat market in Wuhan – the story the Chinese initially reported – but rather that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab there. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Energy Department had joined the FBI’s stance on the pandemic. The Wall Street Journal report cites individuals who have seen a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress. The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies assess at “low confidence” that the COVID-19 pandemic originated due to natural transmission from an infected animal. In contrast, the CIA and another unnamed agency are undecided. The updated report maintains there is a consensus between all the intelligence agencies that the pandemic was not the result of a Chinese bioweapons program. The U.S. intelligence agency consensus is that the COVID-19 pandemic likely resulted from an accidental lab leak in Wuhan. “It was obvious from the beginning that this was the case.,” Dr. Stewart Tankersley told Alabama Today. “But Fauci and all his sycophants continue to maim and kill without apologizing. But it’s actually one of the many lies that they have supported and propagated the past 3 years.” Tankersley has been a skeptic of how the COVID-19 virus has been handled by the World Health Organization and federal and state healthcare authorities. “Repentance is the first step to getting through this,” Tankersley added. The Energy Department oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research, so has the research brainpower to reach that conclusion. Reportedly both the FBI and the Energy Department arrived at the same conclusion independently of each other. Wuhan is the center of China’s extensive coronavirus research. COVID-19 is a condition first identified in late 2019 in China. The illness, which can frequently be deadly, is caused by a coronavirus infection. Coronaviruses are extremely common throughout nature, but the virus that caused the outbreak, SARS-CoV-2, was new to science. The coronavirus has spread globally and is now endemic. To this point, 6,798,868 people have died in the global pandemic, including 1,145,293 Americans. 20,852 Alabamians have died. Rogers is the Chairman of the powerful House Armed Service Committee. He is in his eleventh term representing Alabama’s Third Congressional District. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Paul DeMarco: Alabama state representatives and senators to approve distribution of federal COVID funds early in upcoming session
We are now a week away from the first day of the 2023 regular session of the Alabama Legislature. As lawmakers head back to Montgomery, there is discussion of what bills will be up first for debate. However, it appears that before Alabama State Representatives and Senators get to work on their own legislation, the Governor is preparing to call for a special session right off the bat. The Governor wants approval for the distribution of the remaining federal covid monies, which is close to a billion dollars. There has been a lot of debate on how to spend the money. The state has already appropriated $1.1 billion dollars of American Rescue Plan Act funds. Of those funds, $400 million went to construction for new prisons in the state, while almost $300 million went to expand rural broadband service in the state. There are more dollars expected to be spent towards broadband, but there is a lot of money that has to be approved to be spent for state needs. The United States Congress has loosened the restrictions on the way those funds can be used by the state. Other suggestions for the state leaders include tax relief for Alabama citizens considering the inflation and tough economic times. Other states have passed reforms and returned dollars or removed taxes in the past year. Some states are in the process of even eliminating their income tax. Most importantly, lawmakers need to make use of these dollars, which will be in the best interest of Alabama citizens. Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on Twitter at @Paul_DeMarco.
Gov. Kay Ivey authorizes the state to resume executions
On Friday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey informed Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall that he could resume the process of executing inmates awaiting their fates on death row. Ivey made Friday’s decision after Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) Commissioner John Hamm informed the Governor that the “top-to-bottom” review of the state’s execution process that she had ordered was complete. Upon receiving the word from Commissioner Hamm, Ivey sent a letter to notify Marshall that he may ask the Alabama Supreme Court to issue an execution warrant for an eligible death row inmate whenever he deems appropriate. Ivey had ordered the review of the process on Nov. 21 after two recent attempts to execute convicted murderers failed. Alabama is currently using lethal injection as its only means of execution. If problems persist with lethal injections, the state could revert to using the electric chair. The Legislature has authorized ADOC to also use nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution. ADOC has established procedures for using nitrogen to kill by hypoxia. “I am pleased that Governor Ivey and the Department of Corrections have completed their review of their execution processes and feel confident that the travesty of justice that occurred in November of last year will not be repeated,” Marshall said. “As I have made clear, I and my office have remained fully committed to and capable of carrying out capital punishment in Alabama.” Marshall had already expressed his dissatisfaction with the delay and said that, as far as he was concerned, there was no moratorium on executions in Alabama. Marshall said that James Barber will be the first person his office will seek to execute following the governor’s decision to resume executions. “Accordingly, my office immediately filed a motion today with the Alabama Supreme Court to set an execution date for death-row inmate James Barber, and we will be seeking death warrants for other murderers in short order,” Marshall said. “In Alabama, we recognize that there are crimes so heinous, atrocious, and cruel, so exceptionally deprave, that the only just punishment is death,” said Marshall. “Those on death row -as well as their victims- can be certain that I and my office will always do our part to ensure that they receive that just punishment.” Barber was sentenced to death for the murder of Dorothy Epps. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Barry Moore visits Yuma, Arizona to learn about the southern border crisis first hand
U.S. Congressman Barry Moore participated in the House Judiciary Committee’s first field hearing of the 118th Congress dealing with the border situation. The hearing was held in Yuma, Arizona, where Moore and his Republican colleagues were able to observe the border situation firsthand. The hearing featured three witnesses: Jonathan Lines, a county supervisor in Yuma County; Sheriff Leon Wilmot; and Dr. Robert Trenschel, president and CEO of Yuma Regional Medical Center. Moore’s questions focused on the humanitarian crisis created by the flood of humanity crossing the U.S. southern border. 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses – most of them from drugs that were smuggled across the U.S. southern border with Mexico. “In Alabama recently, I was told that in Birmingham we seized enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in my entire state, so this may be affecting border communities, but it’s a crisis for our entire nation,” Moore said of the fentanyl crossing the border in large quantities. Moore discussed the high costs that some traffickers have charged people worldwide to cross the U.S. southern border. “We actually seized some Chinese nationals, [said] a Sheriff’s Department in Texas, and it was $80,000 each,” Moore said. “Folks, they’re not coming here to do us any favors, just so you know.” Moore discussed the benefits, including cell phones, being issued to migrants paid for by American taxpayers. “We are actually, with taxpayer dollars, trafficking children, and we’re paying to get them here on American taxpayer dollars, and putting them in God knows what and God knows where,” Moore said. Moore expressed his concerns about the vast numbers of unaccompanied minor children our government has lost after transporting them to unverified and unvetted people and places throughout our country. “We’ve lost 20,000 children. [Alejandro] Mayorkas said himself in a hearing he does not know where 20,000 of these children are, and that’s just staggering to me,” Moore said. Moore appeared Thursday on Newsmax’s National Report with Shaun Kraisman and Emma Rechenberg live from the southern border near Yuma, Arizona. “The people of Yuma have a story to tell,” Moore said. “The number of encounters they’ve had over the last three years, the difference in what the Trump administration was doing for this community and what’s going on now under the current administration is a remarkable difference. It’s a stark difference in how we handle the southern border.” Moore said that President Joe Biden should visit Yuma. “If nothing else, it would show he actually puts America first. We have a president who globe-trots around the world trying to solve other nations’ problems and denies and ignores the problems right here in our very own country, whether it’s East Palestine or the U.S. southern border,” Moore said. “These are things that this administration could lead on, and they’ve turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the American people and the crises we face here in this country.” Moore said that if the American people knew what was happening at the border, they would be upset. “A closed border is a compassionate border,” Moore said. “We cannot address immigration reform in this country until we close this southern border and get a handle on what’s going on down here.” Moore is a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has ordered the Committee to hold hearings on the border crisis to draw attention to the problem. Moore said that Democrats were invited to attend the field hearing; but chose not to. Barry Moore is in his first term representing Alabama’s Second Congressional District. Moore previously served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2010 to 2018. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville join bipartisan group to support rural hospitals
On Friday, U.S. Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville joined a bipartisan group of fourteen Senators urging the extension of a policy that is helping rural hospitals in states like Alabama continue to deliver quality care. The two Alabama Republicans joined in a letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure formally requesting a four-year extension of the Low Wage Index Hospital Policy, which allows hospitals in rural areas to compete for and retain high-quality staff by increasing reimbursements to hospitals in rural areas with lower overall wages. Without action, Medicare payments to these hospitals will reduce after September 30, 2023. Sen. Britt is a member of the subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. “Our rural families and communities depend on the medical services and potentially life-saving treatments that local hospitals provide,” said Sen. Britt. “Every Alabamian deserves access to quality care and the opportunity to thrive in safe, strong communities – no matter their zip code.” The four-year AWI adjustment by CMS for bottom quartile hospitals was first passed by the Trump administration in August 2019. Then, Sens. Richard Shelby and Doug Jones represented Alabama in the Senate. “For two decades, Alabama has been fighting the unfair Medicare reimbursements and today receives a rate that is just 67 percent of the national average,” Sen. Jones explained in 2019. “This rule adjustment will bring balance to Medicare reimbursement for Alabama, particularly our rural hospitals and hospitals across the country,” explained then-Sen. Shelby. “For years, I’ve been working with Alabama’s hospitals and the delegation to advocate for increased Medicare reimbursements for Alabama’s hospitals, which are currently reimbursed at the lowest rates in the country,” Congresswoman Terri Sewell stated when the rule was passed. “Today’s announcement is great news for Alabama’s hospitals, especially those in rural areas of the state where every dollar counts. With over 88 percent of rural Alabama hospitals operating in the red, it is critical that we do everything we can to help our hospitals provide the services needed to keep Alabamians healthy. Recalculating the way Medicare reimburses Alabama hospitals is a crucial step in achieving that goal.” “Unfortunately, due to disruptions in the marketplace caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not had the opportunity to see the true impact of the Low Wage Index Hospital Policy envisioned by CMS,” the Senators wrote in their letter. “Extending the Low Wage Index Hospital Policy for four additional years will allow hospitals and the agency to better understand the policy’s true impact in a more normal environment.” Senators Britt and Tuberville were joined by Senators Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), and Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). Without a renewal and extension of the rule, CMS will revert back to compensating rural hospitals at 60 to 75% of the rates as hospitals in many major metropolitan areas based on the assumption that the cost of living and, thus, wages are less in the rural areas. The difficulty with that theory is that there is an intense nationwide competition for medical professionals who all go to the same medical and nursing schools. Rural hospitals already struggle to hire competent medical professionals due to the small rural populations. This means fewer patients seeking care, particularly specialized care, than in a major city hospital. If Medicare and Medicaid reimburse those hospitals for significantly less than the major hospitals will, then attracting and retaining staff at the rural hospitals becomes problematic. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
