State health care revolution under way

OLYMPIA – Washington took giant strides to becoming a national leader in providing access to affordable, high-quality health care. The comprehensive reform measure, Senate Bill 5930, sponsored by Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, passed the Senate on March 9 on a 48-0 vote, with one senator excused.

“Today we start the overhaul of our health-care system to make it better for consumers and a better bargain for taxpayers,” Keiser said. “With this bill, we are moving ahead with programs to give consumers lower cost and better access to high quality health care.”

Introduced at the request of Gov. Chris Gregoire, the measure incorporates recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access, appointed by the governor in 2005 to address the health-care needs of Washingtonians. The commission issued its final report last month. Keiser’s bill incorporates key elements from the work of the commission, including the following to:

• Create a health insurance exchange to help employees of small businesses get coverage at lower cost;
• Develop a reinsurance program to help bring down premiums of insurance for small employers by providing a 90 percent reinsurance reimbursement for medical costs between $10,000 and $90,000 a year;
• Promote electronic medical records to improve treatment and reduce medical errors;
• Adopt strategies to reduce unnecessary use of emergency rooms;
  • Promote coverage of young adults up to age 25 by allowing continued coverage under parents’ policies;
• Reform the public health system so it can better provide public safety and preventive services with increased accountability;
• Encourage providers to use “decision aids” — practical tools that help doctors and patients make medical decisions based on the best evidence;
• Initiate a pilot in four state agencies to improve employee health measured by weight, smoking and diabetes outcomes;
• Provide health professionals access to the University of Washington Library’s online medical information for guidelines on best practices;
• Require state health programs to modify their provider payment systems to reward high-quality outcomes rather than simply pay for services; and
• Require state health programs to do evidence-based disease management to help patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes or heart disease, get proactive treatment.

“This is not a silver bullet. This is a comprehensive overhaul that will lead to lower costs and better health care access and outcomes for all of our citizens,” Keiser said.

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