Legislators and staff, with many others, gathered in a State House hearing Room this morning for a HCFA/Consumer Health Quality Council event featuring the public debut of videos telling stories of three members of the Council (see yesterday’s blog with links to videos). Sen. Moore and Rep. Provost spoke about S. 1277/H. 2226, “An Act Promoting Healthcare Transparency and Consumer and Provider Partnerships,” a bill supported by HCFA and the Consumer Council for which Moore and Provost are lead sponsors. They emphasized the need for the Committee on Public Health to move the bill so we can achieve passage before the session ends.
Following the videos, the three consumers spoke about changes they want to see happen to prevent their experiences from happening to others. Jim Conway from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement spoke directly to the consumers, apologizing as someone who has worked in healthcare for 40 years and who believes these stories can be prevented with health system changes. The power of these stories, and fixes that could have prevented them from happening and/or alleviated the emotional pain, emphasize the need to move the quality bill to enactment.
