Editor’s Note: This is the second posting to Washington, DC from the Nashville Healthcare Council’s 2022 Leadership Healthcare Delegation. See first post. here.
After concluding the first day of sessions with a keynote dinner discussion with Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report, Leadership Health Care kicked off the second day of the delegation to Washington, DC. The day kicked off with an advocacy panel that included Molly Smith, vice president of public policy for the American Hospital Association Group. Janet Thornton, Executive Vice President of Product Employers and Commercial Policy for America’s Health Insurance Plans. and Todd Askew, senior vice president of advocacy for the American Medical Association.
Panelists addressed the most important issues, including affordability, prescription drug pricing, protection of Medicare advantage, hospital financial stability, workforce crisis, reform and stabilization of the Medicare payment process, telemedicine, physician practices, and more. We discussed our priority policy priorities. When it came to pricing transparency, integration and interoperability issues, we all agreed that the solutions were not as simple as we thought.
“We absolutely support price transparency for individuals looking to plan for care,” said Smith. Our members understand that and seek to help consumers with solutions such as sophisticated cost calculators.”
Mr Smith continues: Some need to be undone, others should be retained and reconciled with reasonable timelines and solutions. Data dumps of negotiated rates are time-, labor-, and resource-intensive, and too complex for patients. Individual cost estimates, on the other hand, are very valuable. We need to double down on our technology solutions and get everyone on board to understand how to do this right and who is responsible for what. “
Thornton adds: It’s often talked about in polls, and how do you put it into practice? “
Delegates heard quick hits from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Republican-Tennessee), Senator Bill Haggerty (Republican-Tennessee) and Rep. Jim Cooper (Democrat-Tennessee). – Specific issues such as rural hospital closures, veterans care, labor shortages, and Medicare and Medicaid bankruptcies.
Blackburn affirmed telehealth’s arguments on Monday to expand broadband internet access to underserved communities, support rural hospitals with technology and rewrite HIPAA related to digital privacy to strengthen telehealth. stressed the importance of
“Issues like access to health care and focusing on health over disease cannot be solved by bureaucrats in Washington. They will be solved by innovators in Nashville,” said Blackburn.
Hagerty adds: What we need is more people with business acumen and a long-term dialogue. Stop-gap funding doesn’t help at all. I’m looking for a measure that doesn’t require me to go through a lengthy legislative process, and I’m open to it. “
Cooper said it was “easy to make easy choices,” but that the U.S. was “not on the right track” and was “making colossal mistakes,” especially when it comes to federal health care spending. Stated.
“This is a big anomaly,” he said. In fact, all we really know is that both programs are starting to fall apart in the relatively near future and are doing nothing about it. “
He inspired conference leaders to create impactful and meaningful solutions. “Democracy should address people’s problems, and these policy issues that address human health – the health of you and your friends and neighbors – need better solutions,” he said. .
In his closing speech, Chief Representative Paul Keckley said the complex US healthcare system is far from providing the value it promotes.
“I hope that as a lasting result of your being here, you’ll not only network with great people, but you’ll start reflecting and asking questions about the day after tomorrow at executive and board meetings,” Keckley said. Told. “We’re not thinking long term. We’re repeating what we did yesterday and tweaking it a bit. My ambition is for Nashville to become known for system-specific solutions and for the LHC to be the bridge between healthcare and policy.”
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