s someone who has dedicated her career to improving healthcare, I was pleased with the tremendous investments we made this session. We worked extremely hard in our Appropriations Subcommittee for Health and Human Services to secure this vital funding. Overall, health and human services received 24% of the nearly $11 billion appropriated to state agencies.
In May 2022, there were more than 5,100 Oklahoma families on the Developmental Disabilities Services wait list. Last session, we appropriated $32 million to help address the backlog. This session, we approved the final $10 million to completely eliminate the waiting list and get these Oklahomans the critical services they need.
Another $200 million will go to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) for hospital grant funding. OHCA will work with the Oklahoma Hospital Association (OHA) to determine the best way to get this funding to those facilities under the Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program (SHOPP), along with other critical access hospitals. For those not familiar, SHOPP was created in 2011 to assure access to quality care for Oklahoma Medicaid members.
We appropriated an additional $30 million to the OHCA for Health Information Exchange (HIE) Connection Grants to cover the one-time connection fees for providers to the new statewide system. HIEs are connecting nationwide to seamlessly deliver patient health information across health systems, improving the patient experience by making their health information available whenever and wherever their care occurs. Do you get tired of having to fill out those health questionnaires about medications, surgeries, etc. for every doctor’s appointment? This will eliminate that, saving patients time, but also protecting the elderly and those with complicated medical histories from having to remember all their medications.
When patients don’t list all of their medical conditions and medications, it can be extremely dangerous and lead to complications if a doctor prescribes a medicine that has adverse reactions with a medication the individual is already taking but failed to list on the questionnaire. This will ensure doctors have your entire medical history to make the best decisions regarding medicine and treatment.
All patient data is only accessible in secure, approved ways, compliant with state and federal laws, including HIPAA. Psychotherapy notes are excluded, along with sensitive behavioral health data. Health providers must exclude any patient data that is legally obligated to be kept confidential and only transmit it with patient consent.
The OHCA will also receive nearly $48 million to cover the state daily rate increase for long-term care facilities to $35 per day and $17 for Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IIDs). Finally, $600,000 will go to the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (DMHSAS) to increase funding for mental services for our state’s veterans and their families. More than 100 Oklahoma veterans committed suicide in 2020, and nationwide, 22 veterans take their lives every day. We must do all we can to support our courageous heroes and help them with their mental health, addictions. and other health issues. They deserve only the best as that is what they gave our country.
If you have any questions or concerns on legislative matters, please write to Senator Jessica Garvin, State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 237, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, email me at Jessica.Garvin@oksenate. gov or call 405-521-5522.
