Wired for Health Care Quality Act
A weekly compilation from Aetna of health care-related developments in Washington, D.C. and state legislatures across the country
Week of April 7, 2008
Aetna Chairman and CEO Ronald A. Williams and Verizon Communications Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg, representing the Business Roundtable, joined forces last week with Senate health leaders Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) at the Capitol to urge swift passage of the Wired for Health Care Quality Act. The bill seeks to replace the current system built on paper records with secure, protected electronic records. An estimated 90 percent of health care records today are kept on paper. Many in the health care and business communities have been calling for a transition to electronic records to help save thousands of lives by preventing medical errors and save billions of dollars through greater efficiencies. In fact, a Rand Corporation study has found that widespread use of health IT could produce annual savings in efficiency and improved health care outcomes of $165 billion. The Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies, has made health IT one of its legislative priorities for 2008.
In other important developments last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a wide-ranging health-care reform bill opposed by the insurance industry and the National Federation of Independent Business. See below for details.
Federal
Senate Democrats, led by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), are poised to unveil a Medicare package to deal with the upcoming 10.6 percent physician reimbursement cut. The Chairman hopes to have enough Republicans, some House Democrats and the White House on board so that process issues don’t derail the effort. The total Medicare package should be smaller than first thought, coming in at $15 billion to $17 billion. Some senators want an even skinnier package at $8 billion. There is no firm agreement yet on where to find the money, but the hit to Medicare Advantage appears, for now, relatively small. Though nothing is certain, the framework seems to be in place to produce a product in time to meet the June 30 deadline.
The Senate’s mental-health parity compromise offer of March 14 received its first House reaction last week in the form of a public statement from Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), sponsor of the House parity bill. He called the offer a “huge sign” that the Senate was serious, and further noted that the Senate offer is not supported by the business community. Senator Mike Enzi has not signed off on the compromise as yet, which could be an astute political move. On two related fronts: (1) Senator Edward Kennedy last week thanked “Aetna and Ron Williams” for all they have done to pass mental-health parity, and (2) on April 22 Aetna and other insurers will participate in a Kennedy & Domenici-sponsored health fair to highlight innovations in behavioral health, with an eye toward promoting the Senate version of mental-health parity.
States
FLORIDA: Governor Charlie Crist testified last week in favor of the autism mandate currently pending, which would require broad coverage for autism treatments and therapies. Aetna is working with legislative leadership to amend the bill to reflect language more consistent with industry coverage policies.
Resources America’s Health Insurance Plans
Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform
Transforming Health Care in America
To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.
