The program was hosted by Madge Kaplan, from the IHI, and I was joined by John E. McDonough, DrPH, MPA, professor of public health practice in the Department of Health Policy & Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The interview focused on the newest threat for cutbacks on the protections to people provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), whether through legislation or regulation. Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act by a vote of 217-212. The future of the health care law still remains unclear as it now moves on to the Senate. The Republican proposal that is being debated would diminish the protection to people with preexisting conditions.
Since the passage of the ACA, our nations’ hospitals, physicians, nurses and the rest of the healthcare team have generated significant improvements in care. Medicare has seen the smallest annual per capita cost increases in its history. Employers, like GBMC, have also seen annual health care cost increases that have been much lower than they were before the federal government started incentivizing the movement from “volume” to “value.” Much of this is a direct result of the ACA and the agency it created: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Millions of Americans who did not have insurance before passage of the ACA now do and people who have preexisting conditions can now get insurance when before they could not.
No one disagrees that we must improve the part of the ACA that deals with the ability of individuals to purchase health insurance on the exchanges. Not enough healthy individuals are buying insurance, thereby making the premium cost go up for individuals to try to cover the cost of care for people who are already sick.
The President of the American Hospital Association, Rick Pollack released this message yesterday: “America’s hospitals and health systems are deeply disappointed in the House passage of the AHCA because it will jeopardize health coverage for millions of Americans.”
Despite last-minute changes, the proposal eliminates essential protections for older and sicker patients, including those with pre-existing conditions, such as cancer patients and the chronically ill. It does little to help the 24 million Americans who would be left without coverage following repeal and makes deep cuts to Medicaid, which provides essential services for the disabled, poor and elderly people in this country.
As the backbone of our nation’s health safety net, America’s hospitals and health systems — which include more than 270,000 affiliated physicians and 2 million nurses and other caregivers — believe it’s vital that Medicaid is protected.
We urge the Senate to restart and reset the discussion in a manner that provides coverage to those who need it and ensures that the most vulnerable are not left behind.”
So, what will the Senate do? Every major healthcare organization, including the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association, have come out against the Republican bill.
I am one of those people who believe that health care is a right. In order to guarantee this right, however, those of us in health care positions of authority must drive the system toward the Triple Aim of better health and better care at lower cost, and the ACA has been helping us do this.
I participated in the interview to highlight the GBMC story and how federal incentives and initiatives brought about by the ACA have contributed to our recent success. I am glad to help in this endeavor by discussing our commitment to the transformation of the delivery system to better manage chronic disease and to prevent disease in those who are healthy. I am hoping many more healthcare leaders join me and help in our fight to maintain health insurance access for all. If you are interested in listening to the webcast, please click here.
Jeffrey P. Sternlicht, MD, FACEP, chairman of our Department of Emergency Medicine, was recently appointed by Governor Larry Hogan’s office as a member of the Maryland Behavioral Health Advisory Council. This council consists of 28 members (or designees) representing state and local government, the Judiciary, and the Legislature along with 13 members, appointed by the DHMH Secretary, representing behavioral health provider and consumer advocacy groups; and 14 representatives that include a diverse range of individuals who are consumers, family members, professionals, and involved community members.
Improving Maryland’s behavioral health system is very important to Dr. Sternlicht and I am sure that he will bring new energy and ideas to the council. Congrats again Dr. Sternlicht and thank you for your service!
Mark your calendars...
With the Monday, May 8th deadline right around the corner, I wanted to kindly remind you all to do your part and complete our annual Employee Engagement Survey. The survey can easily be accessed through the icon on any GBMC desktop computer (see pic on right).So far, OVER 60 percent of our colleagues have responded. We need your opinion! The survey is anonymous to GBMC and confidential. We work with a third party vendor, Press Ganey, who compiles survey data for us. We at GBMC never see individual responses.
Please make your voices heard and complete the survey so that we can identify opportunities for further improvement, to judge the value of changes we made since the last survey and to make GBMC an even better place to work and a safer health system for our patients. Thank You!
DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, that we have the most amazing nursing staff in the country!
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