After the passage of Washington State’s 2009-2011 biennial budget, the Childhood Vaccine Program was shifted from a universal program to one where children with private insurance will no longer be offered free vaccines.
On June 3rd, Representative Eileen Cody, who is the Chair of the House committee on Health Care & Wellness, said, “The bad thing we did was cut universal funding of [children’s] immunizations.”
As of July 1st, 2009, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine will no longer be available to children. Even adolescent girls who are in the middle of the series will only be able to finish the series if their provider pays for it.
Further, no vaccines will be purchased by the state and given to children with private insurance.
As of May 1, 2010, all children with private insurance will be ineligible for state-funded vaccines.
Traditionally, insurance companies do not cover children’s vaccinations because the State has provided them, free of charge, to local physicians. Thus, vaccines are not included in standard healthcare coverage plans. The State purchases vaccinations for a reduced, bulk cost of just a few cents per vaccination. By eliminating the Universal Vaccine Program, Washington State physicians will be faced with the decision of providing vaccinations without compensation or to cease supplying vaccinations all together.
Vaccine-preventable diseases have reached record lows over the past several years. This is because of the great strides we, as a State, have taken to ensure that each child is guaranteed immunizations. Without those vaccines, long-term costs associated with vaccine-preventable diseases will skyrocket.
The more children who are not vaccinated, the more likely we are to see outbreaks of preventable diseases in our neighborhoods. Eliminating vaccination funding is more than an individual concern; it is a serious community health risk. Without these vaccinations, children will be left vulnerable to diseases like Whooping Cough, Polio, Meningitis, Diphtheria, and Chicken Pox.
From a near-term financial perspective, physicians are already being burdened with reduced reimbursement rates for state funded or subsidized health plans, making it more difficult to maintain independent practices and care for their most at-risk patients.
Archive for August, 2009
Washington ends Universal Vaccine Purchasing
Thursday, August 6th, 2009Washington Basic Health Plan increasing rates
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009Washington State’s Basic Health Plan will no longer cut 40,000 people, but will instead increase monthly rates by about $25 and increase the annual deductible from $150 to $250.
The original idea was to cut 40,000 people from the program to save the state $250 million dollars. Washington has had to cut programs to make up for the nearly $9 billion budget deficit.
Local physician groups take healthcare conversation to Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009In the heat of the July healthcare reform debate, Tacoma-based Northwest Physicians Network (NPN) CEO Pat Briggs and Board President Dr. Ted Bridge traveled to Washington, D.C. to work with federal lawmakers on healthcare reform from the perspective of independent physicians.
Currently, 75% of medical care in the United States is provided by independent physicians.
They led a coalition of Independent Physician Associations (IPAs) from around the country. This coalition represents over 4000 independent physicians caring for 3.5 million patients through seven IPAs from Washington, California, Colorado, and Ohio. That is over 1% of total patient care in the United States.
“The debate is shifting more quickly than it ever has before. Changes are occurring day to day, if not hour to hour,” says Briggs.
NPN and other members of this new coalition emphasized that if healthcare does not move away from paying for procedures and a fee-for-service model, healthcare delivery systems will not fundamentally change.
The IPA coalition participated in over 20 meetings with Senators, Representatives, their healthcare policy aides, and key healthcare policy directors from the Obama Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 28th the coalition sat down with Senator Maria Cantwell, and staff members from the offices of Senators Max Baucus and Ron Wyden. All three are Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate Finance Committee is the chief committee where compromises will be made and financing will be determined.
Wednesday morning the coalition met with Senator Patty Murray, the third most senior member of the Senate. Senator Murray already has healthcare staff working with NPN on legislative language to address the important role that independent physicians and IPAs play in the healthcare industry.
From the Obama Administration, the coalition sat with Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technologies at HHS, and Karen Milgate, the Policy Director at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Among Republicans, the coalition met with healthcare staff from the offices of House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senator John McCain, two highly influential Congressional leaders in the healthcare reform debate.
NPN and their new partner organizations promoted a new model of patient care, an Accountable Care Organization (ACO). In this model, physicians measure and are accountable for patient outcomes. In an ACO, independent physicians are incentivized to reach quality outcomes with shared savings.
NPN operates with many features of an ACO. As a result of extensive experience as a proto-ACO, NPN has been explaining some of those nuances of the healthcare industry to politicians so they will hopefully understand them too.
Congressman Adam Smith thanked the coalition for their valuable insights on incentives and ACO structures during their meeting. Congressman Smith represents Washington’s 9th District, including parts of Pierce, King, and Thurston counties.
NPN has now worked in both Washington, D.C. and Olympia, Washington to support their healthcare reform ideas.