Senate News Update
From Senator Jane Earll
September 5, 2007

RECENT HEALTH CARE REFORM MEASURES

A major public policy challenge is to reduce the cost of health care without reducing the quality of care.  The General Assembly passed a handful of new laws this year that, I believe, achieves that goal.

It's estimated that infections picked up in hospitals and other health care facilities adds more than $8,000 to the cost of the average inpatient stay.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100,000 Americans die annually from these bacterial infections, which are increasingly resistant to common antibiotics.

Act 52 of 2007 which will establish the steps to be taken by state government agencies and healthcare facilities to prevent, track, and reduce infections.  It requires that hospitals, nursing homes and ambulatory surgical facilities implement internal infection control plans to improve the health and safety of patients and healthcare workers. 

The CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network internet-based surveillance system will be the primary means for hospitals to report health care‑associated infections – providing a coordinated effort to attack this problem in an effective, measurable way.  This comprehensive system will reduce discomfort, prevent deaths, and lower healthcare costs. 

A package of bills recently enacted (Acts 2007-46, 47, 48 and 50) will give health care facilities more flexibility in staffing, allowing them to better use their resources and keep costs down.  

The measures increase the number of physician assistants that may be supervised by a physician (MD or DO), and broadens the work that can be done by Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners and Nurse-midwives.  Nurses will be able to order certain equipment and care, refer for certain types of therapy and to a dietitian, and perform other expanded functions. Nurse-midwives will be able to prescribe, dispense, order and administer specific drugs.  

There is no reason to restrict these tasks to physicians, who can be spending their time more cost-effectively.  All of these changes include measures to protect patient safety.   

Along the same lines, Act 51 of 2007 allows public health dental hygiene practitioners to provide services within their current scope of practice.  There is an acute shortage of dentists willing to treat individuals on Medical Assistance, and as a result, these individuals often only receive dental care when it is literally an emergency and their oral health is already compromised.  By allowing dental hygienists to provide preventive and routine care, more serious health problems related to lack of attention to dental and periodontal status could be prevented. 

Long-term care is among the costliest medical bills a family can face.  Act 40 of 2007 will provide a strong financial incentive for consumers to invest in long-term care insurance and reduce financial costs to taxpayers.  The law creates the Long-Term Care (LTC) Partnership Program, under which the Department of Public Welfare will be developing guidelines and submitting them to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over the next few months.  Once the program is approved, long-term care policies will be required to conform to standards so that consumers are protected and Medicaid becomes available after pre-established coverage limits have been reached. 

Under the current system, health care consumers are required to "spend down" assets before taxpayer-funded Medicaid steps in to cover the expenses associated with long-term care.  As a result, many individuals and families lose all of their assets well before they go into long-term care, and then taxpayers are forced to pick up the costs, which can be significant. 

We enjoy excellent health care in this country, and too much government interference could jeopardize that.  But, it's critical that we take every step to make care affordable.  These are a few of steps the Commonwealth took thus far in 2007 to improve our system.  

As always, if you have any questions on this or another state government matter, please do not hesitate to contact my office directly at (814) 453-2515.