Speech
Governor's 3rd Annual Health Care Summit
Remarks of Governor Judy Martz
Missoula
4/28/2004
Good morning. Thank you for being here. I am glad to see so many folks who were with us at the first summit in Bozeman and the second one in Billings last fall, and I am glad to see so many new people from this part of the state.
I want to first thank Steve (Witt) for inviting us to hold this 3rd Annual Governor’s Health Care Summit at your beautiful conference center. A member of my family has used other sections of the hospital and I can tell you we are very pleased with your hospital staff and physicians. So, thank you, Steve, for your good work. We are glad the hospital board and you found each other a year or so ago.
I also want to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to Jean Branscum, who many of you know is my friend and trusted Health Policy Advisor and to Linda Ashworth for all their extra work to pull this summit together. And, of course, I want to say a special thanks to each of the members of the steering committee who have worked with Jean and Linda on this summit and the previous summits.
As I call your name, please stand. Hold your applause so we’ll give them a hand when they are all recognized:
¨ Jim Ahrens, An Association of Montana Health Care Providers
¨ Linda Ashworth, Office of the Governor
¨ Tanya Ask, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana
¨ Jean Branscum, Office of the Governor
¨ Webb Brown, Montana Chamber of Commerce
¨ Maggie Bullock, Department of Public Health and Human Services
¨ Chuck Butler, Office of the Governor
¨ John Chappuis, Department of Public Health and Human Services
¨ Mike Foster, Saint Vincent Healthcare
¨ Gail Gray, Department of Public Health and Human Services
¨ Steve Turkiewicz, Montana Bankers Association
¨ Steve Yeakel, Montana Council for Maternal and Child Health
We have an outstanding program today, thanks to these folks and their planning. I have already heard many comments about last night’s discussion about prescription drugs, their cost and the issue of importing drugs from Canada.
When we began planning this summit, I asked Jean to be sure this issue was on the agenda. I have my own view on this issue, but I believe it is important that all sides be discussed, as we continue to get more information. The first two summits were very productive, and I know this one will be too.
For those of you at our first summit in Bozeman two years ago we discussed the idea of a provider fee that would help those of you in the health care profession. The rest of the story about that fee is that after a lot of hard work by Gail Gray, John Chappius and others within the Department of Public Health and Human Services, folks at the Montana Hospital Association, and my office, we got legislation passed and approval by the federal government for the program.
Then, in late February, we distributed Medicaid checks totaling more than $26 million to Montana hospitals. I know this will go a long way towards reimbursing hospitals for the services they provide Medicaid patients, but it should also help to hold down the cost shift to those of us with insurance.
In addition to the success of the hospital payment program, initiated at the first health care summit, we have come a long way in the past year on the Medicaid Redesign Project. The State Planning Grant, our project to find solutions for the state’s uninsured is also moving along nicely.
Thanks to all of you for your work on these two very important projects.
I would just like to say a word or two about each of these efforts. First, on the Medicaid Redesign Project. This is a long overdue undertaking that will impact the future health of all citizens of our state.
We have in place today a State Medicaid program that is not sustainable. As you know, the rising costs of health care, coupled with an increase in Medicaid caseloads and tight budgets have made the last several years difficult. We must change the way we do business to better meet the goals of serving our most vulnerable and needy citizens within our budget limitations.
You will hear highlights today about the redesign options that have risen to the top. We have also set aside a room, staffed by our knowledgeable department staff, that is complete with detailed information on each concept being proposed. Please stop by that room to ask questions and provide your input.
And on the work being done on the uninsured, let me say that we all know how difficult this issue is to solve, otherwise we and folks in all across the country and in Washington D.C., wouldn’t still be talking about it. I believe that one way to attack the problem is with creative ideas like the provider fee, which landed hospitals millions of dollars in new revenue that can then be used to hold their costs down for everyone else.
We must keep working on ways to control the rising costs of medical care and the utilization of medical services. It’s been said many times before, and I’ll say it again and I’m sure you will hear it more today, to have affordable health insurance we must have affordable medical care.
We must also engage ourselves, our families and our co-workers in exercise programs like the Shape Up Program started by Big Sky Games, Komen Race for the Cure, and the Governor’s Cup and other family and fitness programs and events here in Missoula and all over the state.
We must continue to support CHIP to the best of our ability, which I have done and will continue to do, and the Caring Program for Children, which was there before CHIP and now works hand-in-hand with the Department of Public Health and Human Services to see that as many children are served as possible.
We must support local efforts by doctors, and hospitals and insurers, and consumers and businesses to see that as many people as possible have access to necessary medical care in the most appropriate locations.
We must support programs like BlueCare and the New West Health Plan Bridge program that have been launched by the private sector to help lower income uninsured Montanans get access to insurance we hope they can afford.
And, we must encourage employers of all sizes to provide health insurance, as a cost of doing business, but at the same time, work with the provider community to keep a handle on the costs of the services they provide, so we can provide more affordable insurance. Folks, this is one of the most difficult issues we are dealing with in Montana and society as a whole.
There are no simple solutions, but there are smart people, like yourselves, who have answers and ideas for solutions and I hope you will not be shy about sharing your ideas with us today.
As the saying goes, there are no bad ideas, so let’s get them all out on the table and see what we can do right now and see what we needs to be done in the way of legislation for the 2005 session and so on. We have what I believe is a very exciting and engaging program today to help us get those ideas on the table.
In addition, we are taking this opportunity to recognize the work of some our most promising students. You will notice youth suicide posters being displayed today. These were created by college students at the Montana State University – School of Art, and what a tremendous message they carry. Suicide is the second cause of death for our youth. This is simply unacceptable. These students are taking an active role to prevent future suicides.
We are assisting by working with Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Department of Public Health and Human Services to print and distribute these posters, along with an educational program, to our high schools across the state. We will also be joined later today by high school youth who participated in the Montana Health Occupation Students of America Conference last week. These are our health care workers of tomorrow and I’m delighted they are able to be with us today.
I was pleased to support the creation of HOSA by dedicating Workforce Investment Act funds two years ago to address our health work force shortage.
In addition to these youth and our four panels with excellent speakers and presenters, we have the governor candidates. As one of the most important issues facing all Montanans, and those who vote this fall, I thought why not invite these candidates to the Governor’s Health Care Summit, so all of you can hear their views on the subject. Listen carefully to what each of them has to say, and when they tell you they’re going to spend more money to insure more people, ask them where the money is coming from and at what expense to some other programs.
Finally, in addition to all the work being done to improve and strengthen our health care system in Montana, we are also working hard on growing those businesses, including hospitals and clinics, that do bi-medical research through our cluster development work. My business officer, Dave Gibson, will be discussing this effort in some more detail but the highlights are that we have worked hard to bring Montana companies and Montana researchers together so that they can collaborate better and expand opportunities to be more successful.
Already, at the request of the industry, we are helping to form a life-sciences industry association that can communicate the needs of the industry and foster new connections among businesses and hospitals. For example, we know there are better opportunities to bring more clinical research and clinical trials to Montana. But this will not happen without strong collaboration between our hospitals, bio-tech companies and university researchers.
Dave will be talking about this and other opportunities, but I think it is important for you to know that we recognize not only the value of this industry as health care providers and consumers, but also as a key partner in our state’s economic growth.
Thank you. This should be a great day of learning.
