HealthCHECK: July 30 Meeting Recap

A meeting of the Florida HealthCHECK Coalition (“Coalition”) was held July 30, 2007, during which the Coalition’s mission of promoting a more informed health care community and more health care choices for consumers was discussed.

Also discussed were the health care goals of CFO Alex Sink and Insurance Consumer Advocate Bob Milligan, including improvement of Florida’s health care infrastructure to provide services where they are needed but are not currently available, as well as making access for the uninsured easier. 

CFO Sink has three main goals at this time concerning the health care system.  First, there needs to be transparency of the costs, treatment and outcomes in our health care system.  Second, medicine needs to be more science-based rather than market-based in order to find the most effective treatments.  CFO Sink’s final goal is an electronic access system that contains information regarding a patient that can be accessed by different providers and doctors to provide a thorough patient history. 

Another topic of discussion at the meeting was the draft “Consumer Access to Health Care Act,” a copy of which is attached hereto. This draft bill provides for price transparency so uninsured consumers or those with inadequate insurance can obtain access to affordable health care. Potential sponsors currently looking at this draft bill are Representatives Juan Zapata and Aaron Bean.

The Coalition is also going to approach Senators Jeff Atwater and Burt Saunders as potential sponsors for the bill.

In addition, the Florida Hospital Association’s request to join the Coalition was discussed and the determination was made that it should be invited to join as a separate work group outside of decision-making sessions.

The Coalition is considering hosting a summit in October to raise public awareness about transparency in health care.

We will monitor the Coalition’s efforts and keep you apprised of any developments in this regard.

Attached for your review are copies of the meeting agenda, the draft Consumer Access to Health Care Act, the Coalition’s proposed platform and an article discussing transparency in the provision of health care.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact this office.