Show The Utah Health Policy Commission Patrick Johnson MPA The Utah Health Policy Commission HPC began operation in the spring of 1994 after being enacted into law by the Utah State Legislature during that yearsession at the request of Governor Michael Leavitt The thirteen member body was chaired by the Governor and included six legislators and six members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the senate Lt Governor Olene Walker served as vice chair Staff to the commission consisted of an executive director appointed by the govemor and confirmed by the senate and various health policy consultants administrative staff and intems The staff averaged aboutmembers in size The annual operating was of the commission budget approximately 425 000 The purpose of the commission was to oversee HealthPrint Utahmarket based plan for healthcare embraced HealthPrint reform comprehensive list of topics and issues and was developed to address the threefold challenge of access cost and quality in healthcare The commission process presented an innovative and productive mechanism for identifying analyzing and developing policy recommendations to address various healthcare policy issues The commission adopted an annual study agenda drawing from HealthPrint some dozen -public hearings held each year directives from the and Govemor and legislature recommendations from the staff Most study items were taken up bytechnical advisory group TAG which included commission members consumers representatives from the healthcare industry and other interested parties The process of comprehensively addressing complex healthcare issues resulted in highly productive discourse that significantly advanced the participants understanding of the issues Nineteen of the 20 bills developed by the commission successfully passed the legislature The commission studied many other issues that led to administrative recommendations and other actions not requiring legislation Criics of the commission felt the recommendations of the commission were contributing to rising costs and that the government had no business intervening in the healthcare marketplace Still others found fault with the commission because they felt it was far too cautious and its recommendations did not go nearly far enough Most interested parties seemed to agree that the commission served asmuch needed forum in which to discuss very complex issues The establishment of the commission came nearly fifteen years after the legislature took up healthcare reform inserious fashion Commencing with the Utah Health Care Cost Management Study conducted by Lewin and Associates in 1979 series of legislative committee and task forces various executive branch initiatives andhost of private sector efforts emerged The legislature established yet another task force during the 2001 session to address healthcare reform The continued attention to health policy issues speaks to their complexity and importance in our society Certainly the commission did not solve the healthcare crisis nor will the recently appointed legislative task force It is imperative however that the debate around healthcare remain at the top of the agenda until everyone has ready access to affordable and high quality healthcare In the end it is political wil that will determine the outcome of the debate Patrick Johnson served as the executive director of the Utah Health Policy Commission from 148 1995 to 2000 Digital image 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah Al rights reserved |