SALEM — Health care is like an open bar, says state Rep. Steven Walsh: "Everybody's drinking but no one's paying."
The Lynn Democrat's quip drew laughs from the more than 200 people packed into the Grand Ballroom of the Hawthorne Hotel for yesterday's North Shore Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum.
Walsh, however, was serious when he spoke about the approximately $70 billion spent on health care in the commonwealth last year. About $14.5 billion was spent as part of the state budget.
"The system we have created is absolutely unsustainable," Walsh, co-chairman of the Legislature's Committee on Health Care Financing, told the roomful of business leaders and health care executives, underscoring their concerns about the rising cost of health care.
Walsh outlined a bill, filed by Gov. Deval Patrick a year ago, that would reform what Walsh said is a broken fee-for-service system and, in the process, save the state billions of dollars. He expects the bill to come out of his committee in a few months, and a full vote to take place before the end of the legislative session in July.
Walsh said the bill would replace the present system, where patients pay for procedures and visits, with a global payment system where health care providers are paid a lump sum, with the idea they would have to manage patients' care to keep costs in line.
"It's up to the doctors to keep you healthy," Walsh said of the system, which would rely on general care providers, not specialists, to keep tabs on patients. Global payment systems only work when care is coordinated, Walsh said.
Walsh's audience included representatives of the region's top health care providers, including Howard Grant, president and CEO of Lahey Clinic; Ken Hanover, president and CEO Northeast Health System, which is partnering with Lahey; and Robert Norton, the president and CEO of North Shore Medical Center.
Walsh said he has extensive experience in the health care system not only because of his committee, but because he is a parent of a child who has spent a lot of time at Children's Hospital.
One of his 10-month-old twins had a heart defect, and he spent 84 days off and on in the hospital since he was born.
"When I'm in the hospital," Walsh said, "I'm the chair of nothing."
The problem with the present system is patients do not know what the costs are, nor do they know what it might cost for the same procedure at another doctor's office or medical center, Walsh said. The same MRI exam can have wildly different costs among providers, even though the service is of the same quality.
In other areas, the bill would push toward the interoperability of medical records in five years. This would give patients the ability to access their medical records no matter which doctor's office or hospital they use.
"You have the right to have the record in front of you at all times," Walsh said.
The bill would also call for patient education and protection, so patients who feel they are being denied care have some recourse; and workforce development to change the way health care is delivered, so that more patients can be cared for at home.
The bill would change how medical malpractice is handled, so some doctors are not ordering needless tests just to protect themselves, and patients can find out what might have gone wrong, or simply find out more information about their procedure.
Walsh said another way to wring out waste is administrative simplification. He said one major Boston hospital has more than 800 forms. Meanwhile, his credit card company is able to send him a single, clear and concise statement each month.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by email at eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter @DanverSalemNews.
Sister Says She Reported Brother in Patz Killing
Patz Suspect's Sister: I Went to Police in 1980s
Diplomatic Expulsions Follow Fresh Syria Report
15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise
Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students
Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation
Mother of Allegedly Abused Girl Denies Claims
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
