Nursing home group donates another $250,000 to tort reform effort, more signatures submitted for casino push

The association representing nursing homes in July donated $250,000 to support a ballot initiative that would reduce medical verdicts and lawyers’ fees, bringing its total over three months to $580,000.

The Arkansas Health Care Association made the donation July 7 to Health Care Access for Arkansans, the group that is supporting an amendment that would direct the Legislature to set a cap of at least $250,000 for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering in medical injury lawsuits and would limit trial lawyer contingency fees to 33 1/3 percent after expenses.

The association had donated $330,000 to the effort in May and June for a total of $580,000. The ballot initiative so far has raised $871,088.

“The contributions given to Health Care Access for Arkansans by the Arkansas Health Care Association show that this is a major priority to our membership,” said Rachel Davis, the association’s executive director. “We have been saving money in our reserves for many years for issues like this one.”

Another $4,000 was donated in July by two skilled nursing facilities that each donated $2,000, while $10,000 was donated by Fort Smith-based Medical Holdings. The political group Americans for Prosperity is listed as providing $1,212.25 in labor.

In May and June, $154,000 was donated by entities listed as “skilled nursing facility.” In addition, Reliance Health Care, a nursing home company with 38 locations in Arkansas, donated $50,000 in May. Southern Administrative Services, a Louisiana-based administrative services provider, donated $46,000 in June.

The effort in July spent $227,274.50 on signature gatherers, spent $7,500 with Texas-based Highline Strategies for consulting, and spent $5,640 with Greenberg Legal Services.

The group opposing the effort, the Committee to Protect AR Families, reported raising $420,430 in July, all from 18 lawyers and law firms. Martha Deaver, the Committee to Protect AR Families’ director, said in a press release after the filing by Health Care Access for Arkansans, “Nursing home lobbyists continue to deceive voters to pass an amendment that would place an arbitrary value on human life of $250,000. To date, corporate nursing home owners have now spent more than $840,000 to take away Arkansans’ constitutional right to a trial by jury.”

In other election news, Arkansas Wins in 2016, the group seeking to pass a constitutional amendment to legalize casinos in Washington, Boone and Miller counties, submitted about 50,000 additional signatures to the secretary of state’s office Aug. 15.

Arkansas Wins in 2016 had submitted 63,725 valid signatures in July, reaching by only about 81 signatures the threshold of 75% of the required 84,859 signatures necessary to qualify for a 30-day “cure period” to gather more signatures.

With the additional 50,000 signatures, spokesperson Robert Coon of Impact Management said, “We feel certain that we will qualify for the ballot, and we look forward to communicating to voters how passage of our amendment will create new jobs, increase tourism, and bring tax revenue back to Arkansas.”