Info UtHealthPolicyProject - ExDir will participate Aug 2

[Sabotage Restorer]

>38 views before sabotaged on 9/29/2007

[Sabotage Restorer]

Info UtHealthPolicyProject - ExDir will participate Aug 2
One of our members, Ellen Birrell, provided a “heads up” of our next meeting to her friend, Judi Hilman, who is Ex.Dir. of the Utah Health Policy Project.

Judi will attend our meeting as a participant co-equal with everyone else. In the meantime, she provided some interesting materials which comprise the first three attachments to this e-mail.

www.healthpolicyproject.org
Executive Director
Judi Hilman

Judi was born in Los Angeles and raised there and in Israel. She has her MA from Cornell University in History and BA (magna cum laude) from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied history of medicine and German literature. Before coming to Utah in '99 she directed fundraising and development at a community rehabilitation agency serving people with disabilities and served as program director for the Community School of Music and Arts. More recently Judi served as Health Policy Director at Utah Issues, Center for Poverty Research and Action. Judi has authored numerous publications, including Utah's Poor: Solutions for Today's Economy (ISBN 0-9770806-0-9), Making Sense of Utah Medicaid, and articles for both Virtual Mentor (ethics journal of the American Medical Association) and the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities. Her work covers a broad range of policy issues impacting the uninsured, low-income medically underserved, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities.

Our Vision...

...a health care system that provides medically necessary care to all Utah residents in a timely, efficient, and culturally effective manner with sustainable financing.

Our Starting Point...

· Over 420,000 Utahns live without health insurance of any kind. A similar number are underinsured.Our businesses are burdened by health care costs, and our families are frequently financially devastated by illness and injury.

· Americans pay more for health care by a wide margin than do the residents of any other industrialized country; and yet only Americans are at risk for illness and death due to lack of health coverage.

· Sixty percent of the $2 trillion Americans will spend on health care this year will come from state and federal taxes, making the American taxpayer the world's most generous in paying for health care programs.

· These facts combine to make health care policy the most difficult and perplexing domestic issue of our state and nation. Optimal change in Utah's health care system will occur only if the public is informed about basic health policy and economics. To that end, we have formed the Utah Health Policy Project.

Our Mission

...to create quality, affordable, comprehensive health care coverage to all people in Utah through research, policy advocacy, and civic participation activities.

Our Objectives

· Develop and implement visionary and systemic solutions to Utah's health care crisis; incrementally expand access to affordable health coverage in ways that further systemic solutions.

· Ensure sustainable and cost effective financing of state and Federal resources in Medicaid, CHIP, and other cost-effective health programs like Federally Qualified Health Centers and low-income clinics; work with the Medicaid provider and advocacy community to ensure timely access to quality health car services.

· Develop the statewide infrastructure and capacity to improve overall quality of care and reduce health disparities.

Our Initiatives:

These four initiatives provide research and timely critical analysis of Medicaid policies, explore business solutions that make coverage affordable and monitor our advocacy efforts to make sure that recommendations are consistent with the best medical practices.

The Medicaid Policy Clinic

As the research arm of the Utah Health Policy Project, the Medicaid Policy Clinic provides timely critical analysis of Medicaid and CHIP policies, including the state's controversial waiver initiative, the Primary Care Network. Publications include: Medicaid Matters, a quarterly newsletter on Utah Medicaid policy and advocacy strategy, position papers and fact sheets, among others.

The Utah Business Group on Health

Health system reform starts with Utah's small business owners and their employees because their economic success depends on access to affordable health care coverage. If we are serious about economic development in Utah, we will show bold leadership in health system reform. Building on our endorsements from the business community we will form the Utah Business Group on Health to lead out on the search for solutions that make sense in today's economy. Utah can be first in economic development, but only if we make health coverage affordable and sustainable.

Quality Watch

Quality Watch is dedicated to the promotion of 'best practices' in the delivery of quality, cost-effective, and culturally appropriate health care. Inits first year this group of high-profile physicians and public health professionals will conduct a literature review, examine models in other states, and begin an environmental scan of statewide capacity to deliver quality care.
The Universal Coverage Initiative

We will study the economic impact of adopting and implementing a state health financing system based upon the six principles of health reform. Other studies will include: a) characterizing savings available through increased efficiency in health services financing, b) health manpower implications of universal financing for medically necessary care, and c) tax policy options for sustainable health financing. We will also facilitate development of new 'federalist' policies like the State's Right to Innovate in Health Care Act designed to support state policy innovation.