Congratulations to Amberly Pahut of the University of Montana Western Foundation! She won $50 just by stopping by the WealthEngine exhibitor booth at the CASE 8 District Conference in Seattle.

In the past two weeks I have had the pleasure of attending and presenting at both the CASE 3 District conference in Atlanta, and the CASE 8 District conference in Seattle. Both conferences faced the challenge of a decline in attendance as a result of the downturn in the economy, and the budget constraints of member institutions forcing the absence of many would-be attendees. This is understandable. The cruel irony is that in these times, it is especially important to invest in the improvement and learning of new professional skills that will improve your efficiency and ultimately, the operations of your institution. The other great side benefit of professional conferences is the networking…and right now many organizations would be well served by the sharing of ideas on how to successfully get through these challenging times. Many of the attendees that I met were rightly concerned about the current situation, but had the best face forward and were confident that they and their organizations will ride through the latest financial and fundraising challenges. The message here is to take advantage, if you can, of ANY professional development. Sharpen your skill set, focus your talents, and be the best asset to your organizations success in riding-out the tough times. There are a host of professional development options that are significantly less expensive than attending a remote conference. Most professional organizations, such as APRA, AFP, etc, offer virtual seminars at a reduced cost. Remember, too, as a WealthEngine client, you can take advantage of our free, live Thursday Workshops offered each month, as well as listen to the replays at your leisure.

Steve Knight

For those of you that have been keeping apprised of the Stimulus Bill and its potential effect on grateful patient fundraising, the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy has just announced that “the language of concern in the original House version of H.R.1, which would have denied hospital fundraisers access to grateful patient names and addresses, has been removed.”

Thank you to all who contacted their congressional leaders about this very important change. For more information, you can visit AHP’s website at www.ahp.org.

The WealthEngine Team

The Association of Healthcare Philanthropy continues to monitor the progress of the Stimulus Bill, specifically H.R. 1 which originally contained language that would deny healthcare development offices access to grateful patient names and addresses. The language was successfully removed from the Senate version of the bill. Congressional leaders met late last night and have agreed to the amount and the key points of the Stimulus Bill; however exact details of the bill still remain unclear. The bill will be voted on by the House sometime in the next day or two and then it will be up to the Senate to pass the final bill before it goes onto President Obama for his signature.

AHP continues to monitor this issue as there still remains some opposition to the removal of the fundraising language. For continued coverage on this topic, you can visit www.ahp.org.

The Association of Healthcare Philanthropy has confirmed that the provision in the S1 Senate Economic Stimulus Bill restricting hospitals from using patient information for fundraising has been removed.  Background information and AHP’s statement is posted at: http://www.ahp.org.

This is encouraging news for healthcare philanthropy as the House and Senate (once passed) bills are expected to go to a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile the two versions. Note that there is still a chance that the wording will be included in the final bill since it was only removed from the Senate version. AHP is working with House leaders on the issue.

We would like to express our appreciation to those of you who participated in our grassroots effort for an amendment to the bill. Together, we made an impact!

Sincerely,

WealthEngine.com

Alert! Dramatic changes to grateful patient fundraising before Senate in Economic Stimulus Bill

As you may know, the Economic Stimulus Bill before the Senate has wording that changes HIPAA regulations to the detriment of healthcare fundraising from grateful patients. This would eliminate hospital development offices and health care organizations from accessing the names and addresses of patients—seriously affecting their fundraising efforts.

We encourage you to contact your Senators and those on key committees, including the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee and ask them to remove Section 4406(b) and its companion language in Section 13046(b). Here is the link to The Committee website.

For more information, the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy has issued a statement on the language.

Exact wording in the bill states: SEC. 4406. CONDITIONS ON CERTAIN CONTACTS AS PART OF HEALTH CARE OPERATIONS. (b) Fundraising- Fundraising for the benefit of a covered entity shall not be considered a health care operation for purposes of section 164.501 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations.

You can also review the full text from the bill that passed the House.

Thanks in advance for any support that you can lend toward this important issue.

Sincerely,
WealthEngine