By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
CONCORD ó Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted a member-only town hall-esque meeting to discuss proposals for health -care reform.
The invitation-only meeting was held Tuesday at the Copperfield Room inside Cabarrus Family Medicine.
The session began with a panel discussion from Ted Humberger with Burchfield Insurance Group, Martha Ann McConnell, with Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast and Tom Earnhardt, chief operating officer for Cabarrus Family Medicine.
Also in attendance were Congressman Larry Kissell (D-Biscoe) and Josh Martin, health policy director for Sen. Richard Burr.
There are several sections in the Obama administration’s plan that affect Medicaid and Medicare, health insurance options and electronic access, all of which were mentioned in the meeting.
“We all may think we get care from one provider, but insurance, pharmacists, hospitals all have access to your information,” Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt spoke of the advantages of electronic records. He told the story of a woman who came into the emergency room complaining of chest pains. The emergency room doctors could not access some of her medical records and performed a battery of tests. The outcome: A diagnosis of acid reflux ó and $20,000 in costs.
If health care facilities made better use of electronic methods to keep track of a patient’s health record, it could eliminate the need for unnecessary care, he explained.
Electronic health records are one recommendation in the health plan to improve the monitoring of care and minimize unnecessary care.
Someone asked who would implement the service for electronic records.
“Each institution could house their own information,” he said.
It would not have to be a large database stored elsewhere.
Earnhardt said a particular system could be used regionally, with an information sharing stipulation.
Humberger said there are people who fill out their patient information who have no idea the medications they take. An electronic records system would already store that pertinent information.
The plan proposes several systems, McConnell said, and has cost-efficient offerings for smaller health-care establishments.
Regina Waite, a Charlotte area nurse, said the concept that many low-income people in the United States don’t have access to health care is not entirely true.
“That’s totally incorrect. We have all kinds of community clinics in place,” she said.
Waite said people who complain about high health costs should understand tests and the use of advanced medical equipment costs money.
McConnell said anyone who comes to the emergency room can receive care, but what people in the medical community would like to see is patients who have continual medical care. “We have an access problem to continual care,” she said.
Gail Martin asked the panel about being able to know up front how much she’d owe for a medical procedure. She said her daughter had outpatient surgery, and she was told beforehand how much certain items would cost but didn’t find out until after the surgery how much the total bill was.
“We have to change they way we do business. The House bill offers cost transparency,” McConnell said.
McConnell said she likes that the health-care plan gives people the responsibilty to take control of their own well-being. One disadvantage of the plan, she said, is the insurance costs to employers.
“If you can’t continue to provide insurance then they will end up in our emergency rooms,” McConnell said.
Kissell said there are stories about people who are dropped by their health insurance provider when they need it the most.
“Those are the stories we hear. How we progress beyond that is where the debate begins,” he said.
The congressman said he’s come across people who are for President Barack Obama and the congressional plan and those who are not.
Kissell believes the House Bill 3200 isn’t going anywhere.
“It’s dead,” he said.
Kissell said he refuses to commit himself to one way of thinking.
He said there needs to be an expansion of home health care.
“It saves money, improves quality of life for seniors and creates jobs,” Kissell said.
Martin discussed the plans put into place to “make insurance more affordable,” which include some talk of a rating rule based on age.
“There are growing concerns there are certain regulations put in place and some for people with pre-existing conditions,” he said.
The Senate is also looking at the possibility of health insurance co-ops.
“We are still trying to see how that works,” Martin said.
Bill Georgiou asked Kissell what part of the plan he did not agree with.
“I have concerns about home health care and Medicaid cuts,” Kissell said. “We do need reforms.”
After the meeting, Georgiou, who is a Kannapolis restaurant business owner and also worked as a congressional delegate for Obama, wasn’t satisfied. He said he did not get his answer from the congressman.
“I expected him to say because of this factor it would take away from Medicare,” he said. “His opposition is not clear.”
Georgiou did talk with Kissell’s chief of staff afterward, and said he did clarify Kissell’s stance on some issues.
Congress will reconvene in September.