The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign contributions, found that health care interests were the biggest spenders with $445 million spent on federal lobbying efforts in 2007. These interest groups represent insurance firms, pharmaceutical companies and health care professionals.

The Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition prides itself on representing mothers, children and other vulnerable populations that don’t often have the opportunity to voice their own concerns in Springfield or Washington, D.C. But we can only do so with your help.

Consider supporting our efforts today by becoming a member or by making a donation to fund our programs and advocacy efforts. We don’t ever expect to have the funding that groups like the American Medical Association or the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PHRMA) have to lobby elected officials, but we can assure you that your funding will go a long way to support our work to create a healthier society for women, children and their families.

Deadline Extended - Last Chance to Order Your Mother’s Day from IMCHC!

Mother’s Day is just around the corner on May 11th. This year, consider giving a gift honoring your mother, grandmother, aunt, friend or another mother in your life by ordering a Mother’s Day card from IMCHC.

A small donation will allow you to choose a card, including one customized with a picture of your choice that will be sent to the recipient. The deadline for orders/donations has been extended to May 2nd. Visit the IMCHC website for more information and to place an order.

May 8th Registration Deadline for the School Health Center Conference

This year’s exciting conference Collaboration, Community, Commitment will take place in Springfield on May 15th and 16th. The conference will feature School Health Centers 101, a pre-Conference for new and emerging school health centers, a Youth Panel featuring the Illinois Coalition for School Health Center’s (ICSHC) first Youth Advisory Council and workshops for medical and mental health providers and clinic administrators. Attendees will have the opportunity to network with peers in their field and receive the most up-to-date information in child and adolescent health.

Please visit IMCHC’s website to view the conference brochure and to register on-line by May 8th. Contact Drew Guzman with questions about the conference.

Register Today for IMCHC’s 20th Anniversary Annual Meeting and Luncheon

IMCHC’s 2008 annual meeting and luncheon will take place on June 10th at Maggiano’s Little Italy. Jennifer Block, author of Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care will be our keynote presenter. Hardcover copies of Pushed are available at a discounted rate of $20 from IMCHC. 

Tickets are $30 for members and $35 for non-members. Download a brochure from IMCHC’s website. Not a member yet? Renew or become a new member today!

To reserve your copy of Pushed, email Kathy Chan or call her at 312-491-8161x24.

Youth Advocacy Day 2008

On April 9, 2008 over 220 students, teachers, parents, providers, and ICSHC members and partners from 17 different schools gathered in Springfield to voice their support for school health centers.  Nearly 190 students from across the state participated in an advocacy training, a rally and a trip to the Capitol to speak with their legislators about school health center funding. 

Thank you to all who helped lead the day. Photos from the day are posted on the ICSHC portion of the IMCHC website.

New Marketing Tool for School Health Centers Now Available

The ICSHC has developed a new marketing tool called "Why Care" along with a Report Card that gives Illinois school health center statistics and demographics for Fiscal Year 2007. Each school health center will receive 25 free "Why Care" booklets after which, they will be available at a minimal cost. Visit the ICSHC homepage for free downloads of the marketing tool, the Illinois School Health Center Report Card and the Report Card Talking Points.

Contact Megan Erskine at 312-491-8161 or icshc@ilmaternal.org to have a copy sent to your organization or to order more copies for your school health center.

Immunization Toolkit Training Sessions

The Chicago Area Immunization Campaign, in conjunction with the Chicago Department of Public Health, will host "Toolkit Training Sessions" to train interested persons in the use of its new Community Immunization Education Curriculum.  Once trained, persons will be able to train others on how to provide important immunization information to their communities.

Key topics include:

• What is a vaccine-preventable disease?
• Five key immunization messages
• How to give an excellent immunization presentation

A toolkit training session will take place on May 9th and May 30th, both from 9am-3pm at IMCHC’s 1256 W. Chicago Avenue office. For more information, please call Melissa Ponce at 312-491-8161x33 or email her.

Court Ruling Issued for Health Care Expansions

On April 15th, Cook County Circuit Court Judge James R. Epstein issued a statement in the health care lawsuit filed against the state of Illinois.

The court has upheld the Governor's authority to expand the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program to all uninsured and age-eligible women. In regards to the FamilyCare expansion, the court has placed a preliminary injunction on enrollment for parents with incomes 185% - 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), based on the requirement that parents be employed or seeking employment as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Family (TANF) rules.

On April 22nd, the Illinois Departments of Healthcare and Family Services and Human Services issued a staff memo that directs case processors to deny FamilyCare benefits for those with household incomes that exceed 133% FPL.   

HB5954 Update

Thank you to everyone who took action this month by contacting their State House Representative to ask him/her to oppose HB5954, which if enacted, would strip away many of the consumer protections on insurance coverage that legislators and consumer rights advocates have worked hard to achieve in the past decade, such as coverage for mammograms, minimum hospitals stays for new mothers and mental health parity.

Unfortunately, the bill passed the House (88-24) on April 15th and awaits a decision by a Senate committee. Click here to view the House voting record. We will keep our members updated with action steps once we learn more about the fate of HB5954.

If you are not already subscribed to IMCHC’s e-advocacy system, sign up today to receive action alerts that allow you to send an email to elected officials with the click of a button.

Archived Topics

Visit our newsletter archive to read about recently listed articles from past issues. Past topics include:
•    Join IMCHC or renew your membership today
•    ICSHC Annual Conference
•    Nominate someone for the Loretta Lacey Advocacy Award

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Ask Your State Legislator to Support SHCs in the FY09 Budget

School health centers are a critical source of care for students across the state. Forty-nine Illinois school health centers provide quality health care services that help students succeed in school. In 2007, 40 school health centers reported providing services to more than 103,000 children and adolescents in 15 counties across the state. With increased state funding, additional centers could be opened, providing many more young people access to basic medical care

Visit IMCHC’s website to send an email to your state legislator to ask for the inclusion of $3 million in the FY09 budget to help expand the school health model in Illinois.

Support Federal Authorization for SHCs

The School-Based Health Center Establishment Act (HR4230) was introduced in Congress in November 2007. Similar to S600, it would establish the first federal grant program for school health centers. Illinois Congressman Jan Schakowsky has signed on as an original co-sponsor of the bill, and Congressman Rahm Emanuel signed on in December, but additional House support is necessary.

Illinois Public Health Institute Conference – October 14-15

The Illinois Public Health Institute is pleased to announce the upcoming conference, Partners In Action - Improving Health Outcomes in Illinois: What Works” to be held at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Springfield October 14-15, 2008. 
The conference will include three plenary sessions and an opportunity to participate in three top-notch workshops which include the following tracks:  Strategic Partnerships; Innovative Approaches and Best Practices; Translating Science and Evaluation Results; and Emerging Issues and Hot Topics. 
For additional information, visit the IPHI website, www.iphionline.org or contact Laurie Call at LLC1185@msn.com.

STATE POLITICS & POLICY | Maine Gov. Signs Law Allowing Midwives Access to Certain Medications
[April 28, 2008]

Maine Gov. John Baldacci (D) on Wednesday signed into law a bill (LD 2253) that gives state pharmacists the authority to provide certified professional midwives with certain medications for pregnant women and infants for administration during home births, the Bangor Daily News reports. The medications noted in the legislation include drugs that induce labor, injectable vitamin K to control bleeding, antibiotic eye drops for infants, numbing agents to reduce discomfort when repairing skin tears after delivery, and oxygen (Haskell, Bangor Daily News, 4/23). The law does not affect certified nurse-midwives in the state, all of whom have authority to prescribe, administer, distribute and dispense a broad range of drugs and medical devices, including certain controlled substances (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/25).

According to the Daily News, midwives typically have obtained such medications from "friendly doctors," who write prescriptions for them or through other means. The new law aims to give midwives the option of purchasing the drugs independently (Haskell, Bangor Daily News, 4/24). Midwives in the state have supported a licensing system because it would give them more legitimacy in the medical field and allow them to legally carry and administer a limited number of medicines and oxygen (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/25).

However, some pharmacists have expressed concern about the legality and ethics of directly providing medications to midwives. Baldacci has directed Anne Head, acting commissioner of the state Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, to develop new rules that would ensure that "significant and meaningful safeguards" are developed to permit pharmacists to "legally and responsibly dispense to certified midwives." According to the Daily News, Baldacci's directive aims to create a process for verifying midwives' credentials, a system of recording and reporting what drugs are sold to midwives, and a process for midwives to report when they administer the drugs to their patients. In addition, Baldacci requested that Head create an advisory group to help develop the new rules and to seek guidance from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A report to the governor on any recommendations for improving the system is due by Nov. 15, 2009 (Bangor Daily News, 4/23).

Source: National Partnership for Women and Families, April 28th

Minnesota House Passes Legislation That Would Overhaul State's Health Care System
The Minnesota house approved health care legislation that would provide subsidies to low-income individuals to help pay for employer-sponsored health insurance as well as create a system to measure the cost and quality of care at health care institutions and publish these results. A statewide campaign to reduce smoking and obesity would also be launched as part of this legislation.
The price tag is estimated to be $400 million over the next four years and would be funded by the state’s Health Care Access Fund, which collects a tax on health care providers.
Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty has already threatened to veto the legislation.

GAO Finds Bush Administrative Directive Restricting SCHIP Expansions Violates Federal Law
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a legal opinion on April 18th that finds that the Bush Administration’s directive limiting SCHIP enrollment to be unenforceable because it was not first submitted to Congress for approval. This ruling concurs with a similar finding by Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis released in January 2008.

The directive requires that states enroll at least 95% of their children below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) before expanding SCHIP coverage beyond 250% FPL and place strict crowd-out restrictions on enrollees above 250%.

Neither of the findings from the GAO or CRS can force the administration to rescind the rules, but they do provide a strong case for states that have filed lawsuits against the federal government challenging the new rules. 

Source: Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report – April 21st

House Passes Medicaid Moratorium Bill with Veto-Proof Majority

On April 23rd, the House voted 349-62 to pass HR5613 which puts a moratorium on seven new Medicaid regulations that reduces health care coverage for pregnant women, children, nursing home residents and other vulnerable populations.

The seven rule changes at issue aim to restrict services covered by some states' case management plans; limit Medicaid reimbursement to public hospitals; narrow federal Medicaid reimbursement eligibility for outpatient hospital services; bar federal reimbursement for transportation to school and school-based care for Medicaid-eligible children; restrict the types of "rehabilitative" services covered by federal funding; reduce federal Medicaid reimbursement for students at teaching hospitals; and limit taxes that some states charge health providers.

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) has introduced S 2819 that would postpone the seven rules, as well as two other regulations.

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Chicago Area IMCHC Membership Meeting
May 14th
Metropolitan Family Services
1 N. Dearborn, 10th Floor in Chicago
1pm-3pm
RSVP to Lilah Handler

“Collaboration, Community, Commitment”
Illinois School Health Center Statewide Conference
May 15th and 16th in Springfield
Contact: Blair Harvey, ICSHC Project Director

IMCHC Annual Meeting and Luncheon – 20th Anniversary Kickoff
June 10th at Maggiano’s Little Italy
516 N. Clark  Street in Chicago
Tickets are $30 for members and $35 for non-members
Reserve your tickets online or by emailing Lilah Handler or calling her at 312-491-8161

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IMCHC 20th Anniversary Benefit
September 10th at the Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago
If you are interested in sponsorship or host committee opportunities,
please contact Lilah Handler.

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