01/27/2015 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Department of Health & Social Services Tele-health Program | |
| HB39 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 39 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
January 27, 2015
3:02 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Paul Seaton, Chair
Representative Liz Vazquez, Vice Chair
Representative Neal Foster
Representative Louise Stutes
Representative David Talerico
Representative Geran Tarr
Representative Adam Wool
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES TELE-HEALTH
PROGRAM
- HEARD
HOUSE BILL NO. 39
"An Act establishing the Advisory Committee on Wellness; and
relating to the administration of state group health insurance
policies."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 39
SHORT TITLE: PUBL EMPL HEALTH INS; WELLNESS COMMITTEE
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) SEATON
01/21/15 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/9/15
01/21/15 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/21/15 (H) HSS, FIN
01/27/15 (H) HSS AT 3:00 PM CAPITOL 106
WITNESS REGISTER
DUANE MAYES, Director
Central Office
Division of Senior and Disabilities Services
Department of Health and Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a PowerPoint, titled "Results For
Alaskans."
MICHELE MICHAUD, Chief Health Official
Division of Retirements and Benefits
Department of Administration
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions regarding the fiscal
note for HB 39.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:02:30 PM
CHAIR PAUL SEATON called the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.
Representatives Seaton, Tarr, Wool, Talerico, Stutes, and
Vazquez were present at the call to order. Representative
Foster arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES TELE-
HEALTH PROGRAM
PRESENTATION: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES TELE-HEALTH
PROGRAM
3:03:03 PM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the first order of business would be
a presentation by the Department of Health and Social Services
on the tele-health program.
3:03:54 PM
DUANE MAYES, Director, Central Office, Division of Senior and
Disabilities Services, Department of Health and Social Services,
directed attention to a handout, "SDS Continuum of Care"
[Included in members' packets]. He stated that, as the division
was the long-term care entity, it included the Medicaid waiver
program and personal care attendant services. He referenced the
grant programs for $28 million directed at the lower end of care
for seniors and those with disabilities, which allowed them to
remain integrated in their communities at a lower cost than the
institutional placement costs for nursing homes and intermediate
care facilities for individual developmental disabilities. He
pointed out that this handout listed the number of people served
by component, the overall cost of each component, and the
percentages of federal and state payment for each. He directed
attention to the Personal Care Assistance Program and the Home &
Community Based Waivers. Each year, it was necessary to assess
each individual receiving services in order to determine the
need to continue with these benefits for that level of care. He
noted that about 9,000 individuals received these services from
the State of Alaska, and required re-assessments annually. This
did not include those who were initially applying for the
services.
CHAIR SEATON asked whether the average costs listed in each
column were per year.
MR. MAYES expressed his agreement and added that individuals
could be receiving services which were accounted for in more
than one column. He directed attention to the PowerPoint
presentation titled "Results For Alaskans," slide 2, "What is
Tele-Health?" He stated that, although there were a number of
definitions for tele-health, the following was pretty accurate:
"the use of electronic equipment and telecommunications
technology to support long distance health care and education."
He shared that there were three division offices, Juneau,
Fairbanks, and Anchorage, with video conferencing equipment for
the weekly staff leadership meetings.
3:11:57 PM
MR. MAYES moved on to slide 3, "How do we use it?", pointing out
the challenge for personal care assistance reassessments,
especially for people in rural Alaska. It was far less
expensive for people to be integrated into their community and
its supports versus being admitted to a nursing home. He noted
that, as there was a statewide responsibility for adult
protective services investigations, there was a challenge for
those enquiries in rural Alaska. Finally, this use of
telecommunications equipment and video conferencing lowered the
cost for staff training.
3:14:24 PM
MR. MAYES addressed slide 4, "Why are we using it?" He pointed
out that there was a challenge to conduct the initial and annual
re-assessments for personal care and waivers in rural Alaska, as
20 percent of the recipients were from rural Alaska. He shared
an anecdote about a visit to a village in rural Alaska, and the
difficulties for timely compliance due to weather and other
barriers. He said that tele-health equipment and partnerships
with the tribal health associations and village clinics had
facilitated these timely assessments and saved the state about
$100,000 since the inception of the system. He shared that, as
there was a set of benchmarks to indicate whether hands-on,
visual contact was necessary, the overall quality and timeliness
for assessments, communications, and administration was
improved.
3:18:38 PM
MR. MAYES introduced slide 5, "What have we accomplished?" He
reported that there were agreements in place with three tribal
partners, including Tanana Chiefs Conference. He explained that
they were working together on a plan to bring more home care
delivery and services to rural Alaska. He expressed an intent
by the department to have all the tribal partnerships in
agreement for this modality of reassessments and initial
assessments. He shared that it had been necessary to develop
policy and processes, evaluate the initial assessments with
input from the partners and recipients, and then build a tele-
health team from existing staff.
3:20:31 PM
MR. MAYES presented slide 6, "What are our next steps?" and
reported that the work plan was being implemented, there was
outreach to establish increased agreements with the tribal
partners, and that he would talk with anyone about tele-health.
Moving on to slide 7, "Why is this important to me?", he noted
that the advent of technology had a huge impact on the deaf
community and he shared an anecdote about his childhood in an
all deaf family.
3:25:44 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked how the division accommodated language
barriers, reporting that there were almost 90 languages in her
district. She pointed out the problem for health care
providers.
MR. MAYES, in response, explained that DHSS had contracts for
interpreters, and upon assessment, local staff could use these
contractors for accurate assessments. He pointed out that,
although interpreters were expensive, it was too subjective to
rely on a family member for interpretation and accurate
assessments.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked how to find that information.
MR. MAYES offered to supply the information.
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked that this information be supplied to
the committee.
3:27:47 PM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked which assessments had been done in
the past year.
MR. MAYES replied that the majority of the assessed individuals
were in rural Alaska, and that these were primarily PCA
(personal care assistance) services for reassessments. He
reported that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services had
expressed agreement with this, as DHSS wanted to use this for
waivers, as well. He opined that tele-health may not be the
vehicle for a very complicated assessment.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked if the plan was to primarily use
tele-health for the PCA program.
MR. MAYES expressed his agreement, as the department wanted to
solidify its processes, and was now prepared to move forward
with the reassessments for Medicaid waivers.
3:29:30 PM
CHAIR SEATON asked whether tele-health was confined solely to
the Division of Senior and Disabilities Services or if other
departments piggybacked on the system.
MR. MAYES said that, although it was specific to his division,
he was open to access of the equipment by other directors. He
noted that his division had a high volume of use.
CHAIR SEATON asked what the assessments entailed, and if they
required physical components, such as blood pressure.
MR. MAYES explained that these were functional assessments, a
consumer assessment tool (CAT). If it was concluded through the
assessment that the individual met nursing home level of care,
they were given the option for this or for home care with "some
wrap around supports." He said that the activities of daily
living (ADLs) dealt with self-care, and if an individual had
three ADL limitations, they would meet level of care. He
pointed out that other questions would determine whether acute
care was necessary, and this would determine qualification for a
waiver. He declared that the assessment tool was complicated.
3:32:18 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked whether his division facilitated
coordination of care, or only performed the assessments.
MR. MAYES, in response, said that his division had 21 assessors
around Alaska and performed all the assessments in the state
system. He shared that 80 percent of the assessments were in
urban communities. He explained that services were delivered by
providers; so, after assessment and qualification for level of
care was determined, a care coordinator would work with the
individual to develop a plan of care, identifying the necessary
services and the corresponding providers to deliver these
services. He noted that DHSS paid these providers.
3:33:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked for clarification whether his
division also connected eligible individuals to the necessary
services.
MR. MAYES, in response, said that his division did not make that
connection for the specific services. He explained that the
Medicaid waiver included a Medicaid care coordinator trained by
the division to do the planning, work with the recipient to
develop the necessary services, and then coordinate the service.
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked if an individual already had a care
coordinator prior to the assessment.
MR. MAYES expressed agreement.
3:35:04 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked whether there were any difficulties
for approval of enough time for assistance within the personal
care assistance program.
MR. MAYES, in response, stated that the personal care attendant
program had been a concern, and his division was working on
"right sizing" the program and "getting better controls around
it." He offered anecdotal evidence of some fraud in the
program, stating that his division was working in direct
partnership with the Medicaid fraud control unit. He shared
that the costs to the personal care attendant (PCA) program had
been reduced, noting that three of the four providers suspended
for allegations of fraud, were very large. He said that his
division had re-written the PCA regulations, and that the
provider no longer performed the assessment, as this had been
determined to be a conflict of interest. He reported that the
"hours of want" by an individual had been reduced to the "hours
of need," noting that Alaska was "an aging state" and it was
necessary to serve as many as possible with what funds were
available. He explained that this was "right sizing the
program" by cleaning up the waste, fraud, and abuse.
3:38:04 PM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked whether there was interface with
data from the Department of Labor & Workforce Development.
MR. MAYES replied that, within DHSS, each individual providing
services had a renderer number to track the hours of care
provided, which had enabled the identification of some fraud.
MR. MAYES, in response to Representative Vazquez, said that the
Division of Health Care Services was monitoring this, and he
suggested that its director, Margaret Brodie, could better
discuss the details about the enterprise system.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked about the adult protective
services' lack of a mechanism for tracking down PCA past
offenses.
MR. MAYES replied that the division had contracted for a new
case management system, and part of this was an integration
system. He referenced a centralized intake system.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked about the number of software
databases and programs currently being used by his division.
MR. MAYES expressed agreement that it had been very high in the
past, but he was unsure of how many there were currently,
although it had been whittled down. He explained that each
division had representation on an IT governance committee, so
every new system had to be vetted through this committee, with
the understanding that any existing systems would be used if
capable of addressing the need.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked about the number of employees in
quality assurance.
MR. MAYES, in response, said that was he was very aware of the
importance of quality assurance. He relayed that there was a
quality assurance unit with 7 or 8 staff, which had received a
lot of cross training for investigations.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked how many referrals there were to
the Medicaid Fraud Control unit during the past fiscal year.
MR. MAYES, in response, reported that the division had kept the
Medicaid Fraud Control unit very busy, but he did not know how
many suspensions from providing services or administrative
sanction cases there had been.
CHAIR SEATON suggested that the committee submit requests to the
division for specific details.
HB 39-PUBL EMPL HEALTH INS; WELLNESS COMMITTEE
3:46:34 PM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 39, "An Act establishing the Advisory Committee
on Wellness; and relating to the administration of state group
health insurance policies."
Chair Seaton passed the gavel to Vice Chair Vazquez.
3:47:26 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
3:48:31 PM
CHAIR SEATON, as the bill sponsor, introduced HB 39, and
paraphrased from the sponsor statement, which read, in part
[Included in members' packets]:
HB 39 requires the Commissioner of the Department of
Administration to implement procedures for decreasing
the incidence of disease in Alaska in order to hold
the inflation of healthcare costs of active and
retired Alaska state employees to 2 percent per year.
HB 39 creates an Advisory Committee on Wellness which
is charged with making recommendations to the
Commissioner of Administration on ways to decrease the
incidence of disease in Alaska.
CHAIR SEATON directed attention to Section 1 of the Sectional
Analysis [Included in members' packets] and explained that the
legislative findings and the intent language state that we can
prevent disease by lowering the incidence of disease, and that
prevention will slow the rate of health care cost in the state.
He referenced House Concurrent Resolution 5, passed unanimously
in 2011, which called upon the governor to use prevention of
disease as the primary model of health care by making people
aware of prevention strategies, including Vitamin D use. He
stated that the previous administration had not pursued this
goal, but he was hopeful that the current administration would
work toward this. He moved on to Section 2 which required the
Department of Administration (DOA), to the extent legally and
reasonably practical, to implement the recommendations of the
Advisory Committee on Wellness and reduce the annual escalation
of health care costs to no more than 2 percent.
3:50:51 PM
CHAIR SEATON explained that Section 3 listed these same
requirements to be applied for self-insurance and excess loss
insurance. In Section 4, the Advisory Committee on Wellness in
the Department of Administration was established, requiring the
DOA to respond within six months to the recommendations. He
allowed that there had been an advisory committee in the past,
but there had not been any requirement for accountability to
address the recommendations. He pointed out that a similar
panel, the Citizens Review Panel, made suggestions to the Office
of Children's Services in the Department of Health and Social
Services. The department was required to respond to these
recommendations, and it was this accountability structure that
he wanted to duplicate in Section 4 of the bill. The proposed
bill did not mandate anything except a wellness committee that
would make recommendations to DOA to the extent legally and
reasonably practical to lower the escalating health care costs.
He allowed that he had focused on Vitamin D and the many studies
that showed its ability to prevent disease. In the proposed
bill, this committee would be established to focus on state
workers and retirees, as the state has a contractual
relationship with them. Directing attention to slide 2 of a
PowerPoint presentation titled "HB 39 Prevention of Disease
Decreasing the Alaska Healthcare Liability," he referenced the
huge estimated annual growth in costs for healthcare liability.
Moving on to slide 3, he pointed out that $3.8 billion was
related to the unfunded liability for PERS/TRS health care
because the contribution rates had been established for an
estimated 2 percent annual growth in cost. All the cost beyond
this 2 percent was an unfunded liability. He opined that it was
possible to keep the growth under 2 percent, and this could
eliminate the $3.8 billion of unfunded liability. He stated
that there were more than 17,000 active state employees and
64,000 retired employees and dependents covered by the State of
Alaska health care, slide 4, "Why are we here?" Moving on to
slide 5, "Alaska's Health-Care Bill: $7.5 Billion and Climbing,"
he pointed to Government Employees, Other, and Medicaid Expenses
as the target areas for proposed HB 39, pointing out that more
than 60 percent of health care dollars were spent on hospital
care, clinical services, and doctors, as shown on slide 6.
Moving on to slide 7, he asked the question: "How can we avoid
disease and prevent illness instead of just paying for sick
care?"
CHAIR SEATON directed attention to slide 8, "Active Plan," and
pointed to the studies that showed 66 percent of the total
grouping of diseases directly related to low Vitamin D. Slide
9, "Retiree Plan," also reflected on diseases with studies that
reflected responses related to low Vitamin D.
CHAIR SEATON moved on to slide 10, "Meta-analysis of breast
cancer risk," which showed five different studies stating that
the meta-analysis showed a 50 percent reduction, while a
Grassroots Health clinical trial of women above age 60 showed
there was a 75 percent reduction for breast cancer, when Vitamin
D levels were 50ng/ml or above. On slide 11, he noted that the
monetary savings for a 50 percent reduction of breast cancer
would save more than $3 million annually, and a 72 percent
reduction of breast cancer would recognize a $4,355,000 savings.
3:59:48 PM
CHAIR SEATON directed attention to slide 12, "Meta-analysis,"
which depicted a 50 percent reduction in colorectal cancer when
Vitamin D levels were 34 ng/ml, even lower than breast cancer.
Reviewing the costs on slide 13, a 50 percent reduction in
colorectal cancer would save about $2 million each year. Moving
on to slide 14, "Type 2 Diabetes," a clinical trial showed the
NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) in
2006 showed the new incidence of Diabetes to be 8.5 per thousand
people, whereas an average of 48 ng/ml showed an average of less
than 1 incident per thousand people. He pointed out that this
was a 90 percent reduction in type 2 Diabetes. He pointed to
the cost savings, slide 15, which reflected more than $4 million
in savings with a 90 percent reduction, and almost $2 million
savings for a 38 percent reduction in Type 2 Diabetes.
4:01:56 PM
CHAIR SEATON moved on to slides 16 and 17, and discussed the
incidence of pre-term birth in Alaska. He shared that March of
Dimes was working on lowering the rate of pre-term birth to 9.3
percent, while an eight year study in South Carolina sponsored
by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggested that the
use of Vitamin D could reduce this to 7 percent, a 32 percent
reduction from the current rate in Alaska. He reported that the
savings in Alaska could be about $1,300,000 per year. Directing
attention to slide 18, "Upper Respiratory Tract Infections," he
allowed that, although not expensive diseases, studies showed
that there were 50 percent fewer infections, including
pneumonia, tuberculosis, flu, and colds, for those who had a
higher level of Vitamin D. He declared that this could be very
significant for Alaska. He spoke about "inflammatory gum
disease," slide 19, reporting that the body protected against
most inflammation by laying on plaque, and pointed out that 80
percent of gingivitis was eliminated in 90 days when Vitamin D
use was more than 2000 IU/day. He shared that, as heart disease
also started from inflammation, this study on gingivitis could
be a good indicator of how increasing Vitamin D levels could
save a lot on other diseases, as well.
4:06:22 PM
CHAIR SEATON pointed to slide 20, "House Bill No. 39," and
focused on Section 2 of the proposed bill, slide 21, which read
in part: "to the greatest extent legally and reasonably
practicable..." He declared that the proposed bill was not
trying to mandate anything, instead proposing to move forward
with better health to help lower the annual rate increase of
health care cost.
4:06:54 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER stated that he would like to have someone
from his district appointed to the proposed advisory committee,
and asked how regions for the committee would be delineated.
CHAIR SEATON replied that there was not any guideline for
regional appointments and, as it was a volunteer position, any
interested persons would be welcome to apply.
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER, in reference to the best, new, and
innovative practices, asked for suggestions on how information
about the benefits of adequate Vitamin D could become more
mainstream.
CHAIR SEATON clarified that the aforementioned wellness
committee would be at least seven members, and it could be
expanded. He suggested that the proposed committee could meet
telephonically, in order to save travel expenses. He expressed
his hope that the proposed bill would engage the state
workforce. He opined that public recognition and understanding
for such a dramatic decrease in a variety of diseases would lead
to an increased use of Vitamin D. He pointed out that, although
the federal government already mandated that Vitamin D be added
to milk to aid in the prevention of rickets, the proposed bill
did not include any mandates. He suggested that generating talk
in the communities, villages, and town councils would go a long
way toward broadening the education, and would lead to a
healthier Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER noted that the proposed advisory committee
had a zero fiscal note. He added that he would tout Vitamin D
in his next constituent newsletter.
4:13:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR referenced an existing informal wellness
committee within DOA, and she asked if the proposed committee
would transition this existing committee toward more permanence.
She stated that it was obvious how this would work for state
health plan beneficiaries, but asked how the recommendations
from the wellness committee would influence Medicaid recipients.
CHAIR SEATON, in response to Representative Tarr, opined that
the current informal committee had been less active over time,
as there was not any formal committee report or response
necessary. He compared this to the effectiveness from the
Citizen Review Panel report to the Office of Children's
Services, with its requirement of a response from DHSS. He
offered his belief that expensive recommendations could come to
the committee, which may not be possible for the administration
and the department to utilize. He noted that, however, there
could also be huge benefits at very little cost. He offered a
few incentive ideas, which included a co-pay and agreement to
increase Vitamin D, pointing out that ideas which did not
require a big change in your lifestyle were much easier to
attain.
4:17:54 PM
VICE CHAIR VAZQUEZ declared that she was a big fan of wellness
and prevention, and that she was delighted to see the proposed
bill come before the committee. She asked how to get the
concept for the importance of Vitamin D to the Medicaid
population, acknowledging that there could be many complex
issues. She suggested that Legislative Legal Services could
offer guidance.
CHAIR SEATON suggested that, as the Alaska state employees and
retirees addressed in this bill were almost 10 percent of the
population, the Department of Administration lowering healthcare
cost escalation would be instrumental in leading the Department
of Health and Social Services to take this approach, as well,
which is where the Medicaid population would be impacted. He
opined that other employers throughout Alaska would also respond
to any savings. He directed attention to a study for
presenteeism and its impact on work productivity [Included in
members' packets].
4:22:27 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR suggested that care coordination for
pharmaceutical use by Medicaid recipients in other states could
be a model.
CHAIR SEATON shared that many of his constituents had declared
appreciation for this information.
VICE CHAIR VAZQUEZ added that this was also a "compassion
issue."
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO reported that an Alaska labor
organization had instituted a wellness policy that required
physical examinations, and that the rate of co-pay was increased
if healthy attributes were not attained. He opined that it was
necessary to improve the cost effectiveness in order to continue
to pay for services, especially during times of budget
constraints.
CHAIR SEATON stated that it was good to have Vitamin D levels
checked, and he shared that DOA had been more receptive than
DHSS in the recent past for the financial impact from
prevention. He relayed that soft tissue responded best to daily
doses of Vitamin D, which only had a 24 hour half-life. He
noted that there was sufficient data for the ingestion of
various amounts of Vitamin D, and that it had been shown to be
most effective for 83 percent of the people to be above 40 ng/ml
of Vitamin D.
CHAIR SEATON, in response to Representative Foster, directed
attention to page 2, line 24, of the proposed bill, which stated
its goal to slow the escalation of health care costs to less
than 2 percent annually by administering the policies.
4:30:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL asked for clarification that the proposed
bill would set up an advisory committee on wellness to guide the
administration, and that this would be enforced through group
health insurance to increase the overall health of its
recipients. He asked if there would be other healthy
recommendations from the advisory committee.
CHAIR SEATON expressed his agreement, noting that there could be
many simple solutions. He shared that previously there had been
a focus on exercise as a solution. He reported that the
aforementioned studies were an example that would allow numbers
and percentages to be put on "this pretty simple and cheap thing
that we could do for Alaskans."
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL mused that research supported that it was
necessary to get people to take Vitamin D daily and maintain
that level, although a big part of the issue was to "get people
educated about it."
CHAIR SEATON expressed his agreement that compliance was
difficult, even as the Vitamin D studies showed a decrease in
fatigue, pain, and bone breakage. He pointed to six new studies
which showed that the rate of dementia and Alzheimer's was cut
in half with a good level of Vitamin D. He stated that sharing
this information in newsletters would allow a better
understanding of the benefits, and would help with compliance.
4:34:41 PM
Vice Chair Vazquez returned the gavel to Chair Seaton.
4:34:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER asked if someone from Department of
Administration would coordinate the proposed wellness committee.
MICHELE MICHAUD, Chief Health Official, Division of Retirements
and Benefits, Department of Administration, replied that
currently there was a wellness coordinator who chaired the
committee, and she opined that, at the least, the wellness
coordinator would serve on the committee, if not serve as the
chair. In response to Representative Tarr, she said that the
wellness newsletter was sent electronically to active employees
and posted on Facebook for the retired employees. She pointed
out that many retired employees did not use electronic means,
and, as postage was expensive, the department was somewhat
limited in the frequency for its communications with the retiree
population.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR offered to include the information in her
newsletters.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked Ms. Michaud for her opinion to
consideration of an amendment to the proposed bill which would
require an annual report be sent to the Alaska State Legislature
from both the advisory committee and the DOA.
MS. MICHAUD offered her belief that this would not change the
fiscal note.
4:38:02 PM
CHAIR SEATON asked if the Department of Administration had
reviewed the proposed bill other than for the fiscal note, and
if so, was DOA supportive of it.
MS. MICHAUD said that DOA supported wellness and wellness
measures, but there were challenges to hold under an annual 2
percent cost growth.
CHAIR SEATON clarified that, although this was a goal, exceeding
the 2 percent was not a violation of the proposed statute.
4:39:37 PM
CHAIR SEATON opened public testimony.
4:39:58 PM
CHAIR SEATON, in response to Representative Foster, said he
would like to hold the bill until the committee meeting on
February 5, as there would be further testimony for lowering
health care costs.
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ noted that her research, while working on
her MBA in health care services administration, showed that
wellness programs were often very effective in cost savings.
4:41:44 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 4:41 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SDS Tele-Health Presentation_1-27-2015.pptx |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HSS presentation |
| Continuum of Care_7 2014_Telehealth handout.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HSS presentation |
| HB 39_Ver A.PDF |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |
| HB 39 SponsorStatement.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |
| HB 39 Sectional.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |
| HB 39 supporting document_Mayo Clinic review.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |
| HB 39 Supporting Documents_Background Materials by Seaton.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |
| HB 39 Wellness Presentation.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |
| HB 39 Support KPBSD.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |
| HB039-DOA-DRB-01-21-15.pdf |
HHSS 1/27/2015 3:00:00 PM |
HB 39 |