Broadcaster Press 5 July 5, 2016 www.broadcasteronline.com Mount Marty College Elects 2016–2017 Board of Trustees Officers YANKTON — Mount Marty College (MMC) Board of Trustees elected new officers for 2016–2017 at its recent meeting. The newly elected chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer assume their roles July 1. “Mount Marty is a significant part of the Yankton, Watertown and Sioux Falls communities and plays a large role in providing valuable educational opportunities to our future workforce and vocations,” says Chair Dan Specht. “The college serves much of South Dakota, northern Nebraska and western Iowa and Minnesota in ways not found in other college environments. I see the value in the formation and education of the people who will be the future stewards of our region and nation.” The 2016–2017 MMC Board of Trustees officers include: Chair Dan Specht: An MMC alumnus, Specht joined the board in 2011. He is the owner of Vision Real Estate Services and New Harvest Land Brokers in Yankton. Vice Chair Nancy Werner: Werner, a 1983 MMC graduate, is the current chancellor of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. She joined the board in 2014. Secretary Sister Clarice Korger, OSB: The vocation director of Sacred Heart Monastery, Sister Korger joined the board in 2010. Treasurer Mike Healy: Healy, a retired vice president of finance at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital, joined the board in 2009. The MMC Board of Trustees is charged with the general oversight of the college’s institutional affairs in accord with its charter, bylaws, evolving statements of mission and purpose and institutional plans. Its members are nominated by the board and then approved by the Monastery Council of Sacred Heart Monastery, the college’s sponsoring institution. Trustees serve four-year terms and are eligible to serve two terms. To learn more about the MMC Board of Trustees, including its members and contributions on campus, please visit mtmc. edu/about/trustees.aspx. Mount Marty College recently elected new Board of Trustees members for 2016-17. From left to right, Vice Chair Nancy Werner, Treasurer Mike Healy, Secretary Sister Clarice Korger, OSB; and Chair Dan Specht. South Dakota’s Priorities Take Center Stage Legislators want hard data for Medicaid reimbursement By Sen. John Thune will provide long-term certainty to state and local govLast January, I was humernments across the country bled to be selected by my and increase investment in colleagues to serve as chair- roads and bridges in South man of the Senate Committee Dakota. In the committee, I on Commerce, Science, and drafted numerous highway Transportation. What an bill provisions to cut regulahonor it’s been. Over the last tory red tape for agriculture year-and-a-half, we’ve worked shippers and create new hard to make the American investments in the freight rail people’s priorities our prisystem in our state, and I’m orities. Safer skies, improved glad they were included in railways, and bringing our the final bill. interstate highway system Aviation safety and further into the 21st century security has been one of the have all been on the agenda committee’s top priorities. this Congress, and the ComWe spent months working on merce Committee has a long my legislation to reauthorize list of accomplishments to and reform the Federal Aviashow for it. tion Administration (FAA), An effective and efficient which would help improve transportation system is the travel experience for critical to South Dakota’s consumers, and make it safer economy, especially to our and more secure too. agriculture producers, which This legislation tightmeans as chairman of the ens the vetting process for Commerce Committee, I’m in airport workers who have aca unique position to ensure cess to secure areas, expands our state’s interests are given TSA PreCheck, and strengththe national attention they ens security at international deserve. airports with direct flights In 2013 and 2014, a hisinto the United States. These toric rail service crisis hurt security reforms and conlocal crop prices, challenged sumer protections represent crop storage capacity, and a common-sense approach caused certain transportaand deserve to be enacted tion premiums to rise by as into law. much as 150 percent because While our transportation agriculture producers and system certainly makes it other shippers were unable easier for us to get ourselves to transport goods into and and other goods and services out of the state in a timely from one place to another, manner. In response, the the distance between cities Commerce Committee made in rural America still presents several important first-ofits challenges, and health their-kind reforms to the Sur- care delivery is key among face Transportation Board, them. the federal regulatory agency To help close that gap, responsible for economic the committee took up and oversight of America’s freight passed my Rural Health Care rail system. Connectivity Act, which My legislation, which was was just signed into law. My signed into law last year, will bill will make it easier and make the board more accheaper to access health care countable to the people who facilities and medical profesdepend on rail transportation sionals in rural areas across and far more effective in adthe state without having to dressing rail rate and service travel long distances to do disputes. Implementation of so. these reforms is underway, I’m proud of what our and we have already begun committee has accomplished to see improvements on the in a relatively short period of timeliness and responsivetime, and I’m eager to build ness of the board. on these early successes The committee passed as we continue to fight for key provisions of the Senate’s what’s important to South multi-year highway bill that Dakotans and all Americans. Buy Local! Shop the Classifieds! Save up to n Call Ethafor or Jamiedetails complete By Bob Mercer State Capitol Bureau PIERRE – The cost reports filed with state government by Medicaid providers and form the basis for reimbursement rates often haven’t been timely or weren’t filed at all, a panel of South Dakota legislators learned Monday. Jason Dilges, the governor’s commissioner of finance and management, said the three-year plan put together in 2015 by the Daugaard administration for raising reimbursements closer to costs might have been the first time with comprehensive data. He said state government previously hadn’t followed a consistent methodology in reimbursing health-care providers. Dilges asked to work with the study panel on finding ways to make the cost reports easier to file and on making a commitment to finishing the three-year plan. Sen. Deb Peters, R-Hartford, an accountant, has working knowledge of cost reports. She questioned why state government should require filing the reports if the information hasn’t been used. Dilges said the data used in the governor’s plan weren’t available until last summer. He said the reports provide information important for making decisions. He said providers should want to get the most current cost reports filed. “You’re hitting exactly on why we started this project last year. It wasn’t perfect but it was better than nothing,” Dilges told Peters. Peters said “my big concern” is that cost reports are expensive to submit and there are different requirements by the federal government and the state government. Peters suggested reducing cost barriers by comparing the federal and state requirements and finding ways to streamline them. “That might help your compliance as well,” Peters said. Some of the cost reports currently in use are from 2012 and 2010. The Legislature assigned the interim committee to study methodologies of reimbursements for Medicaid services providers. The chairwoman is Rep. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, who works in the healthcare field. Hunhoff suggested that providers form a work group to develop suggestions for making the cost reports easier to file. The challenge is getting real numbers so legislators and state officials know 10 to 20 years from now where they stand on costs and reimbursements, Hunhoff said. “This is a starting point, but it’s not a real, valid starting point,” she said. Dilges agreed. He said they could seem to be on the way to 100 percent only to add four or five years of new reporting data and discover they are still far behind. Hunhoff set the next meeting for Aug. 17-18. She said the first day would be reserved for testimony from providers. “We want to be able to address your needs out there,” Hunhoff said. The Legislative Research Council is preparing an on-line survey that providers can use to submit data to the committee, according to Jason Simmons, an LRC staff member assigned to the interim committee. “Any way we can distribute this and get your help is appreciated,” Simmons said. Oct. 25 is the date for the final meeting when the panel will make recommendations for the Legislature to consider in the 2017 session that opens in January. Let Our Family Business keep yours in the go with: $2600 includes utility & manufacturing rebates By Bob Mercer State Capitol Bureau MADISON – The state Board of Regents, whose members govern South Dakota’s public universities, talked Wednesday, June 29, about possible budget priorities for the coming year that could include tuition relief for all students and spending more for data protection and campus security. The tuition break would be the third in a five-year span if the governor and the Legislature would agree to it. Unlike the previous two, the regents are considering expanding it beyond South Dakota resident students. The proposal discussed Wednesday would cover residents, non-residents and students taking distance courses including on-line classes. The tuition break wouldn’t be as large, however, if all three groups are covered, several regents said. The regents spent four hours listening to requests from leaders of the six state universities and two specialty schools. Several presidents asked for funding for on-campus security, such as adding more police hours at Northern State University, and providing a position at Dakota State University for instances of sexual assault allegations rather than borrowing personnel from other universities. A common theme in the presentations was upgrading equipment and in some instances providing more training against cyber-attacks on university data systems and the computers of students, faculty and staff. Regent Harvey Jewett of Aberdeen said his “number one priority” from among the several dozen requests was protecting data and people. “I think both of those should be kind of a system initiative. We figure out a number and fix this. Not just security for our data but for our people,” said Jewett. “It’s something that resonates across every campus. There’s something to be done at every one,” he said. Regent Kathryn Johnson of Hill City suggested considering that the tuition break would apply to all students. The Legislature and Gov. Dennis Daugaard approved additional funding last winter so that on-campus resident students won’t face tuition or mandatory fee increases for the 2016-2017 academic year. By contrast, tuition and mandatory fees climbed an average of 5.8 percent for the 2015-2016 school year when there wasn’t a buy-down funded by the Legislature. Johnson said expanding the buy-down to cover all students might mean tuition and fees would rise but at a lower rate. She suggested 2 percent might be achievable. “I don’t know if that’s sellable or not.” The regents have been trying to reduce the students’ payments so they gradually become 50-50 to state support. She said the ratio is about one year away from reaching that balance. Nothing firm is expected to be decided this week during the regents’ meeting on the campus of Dakota State University. Mike Rush, the university system’s executive director, said he would visit with the governor about potential support and develop firmer proposals for the regents to consider their next full meeting Aug. 2-4 in Pierre. Monte Kramer, the regents’ vice president for finance and administration, said he’d produce analysis about how much the regents have saved through efficiencies and management decisions that held down tuition and fees in the past decade. Kramer said he’s also put together a recent history of tuition and fees for resident students, non-resident students and distance education students including those who live on campus but take higher-priced courses on the Internet. “I don’t think you have enough information to make a decision. We’ll provide that at the August meeting,” he said. Kramer said a campus physical security analysis has never been conducted. He said there are some tests run annually on data security but it’s internal. “We have not gone as far as we would like and as fast as we would like,” Kramer said. He said the hope is to hire outside analysts. All six university presidents included data security, whether software or training or personnel or all three, among their priority requests Wednesday. Find the right job for you! 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