This commentary is by Margaret Gadon of Straford. She is a retired physician and works in public health in health policy, academia and clinical care. She is co-chair of the Strafford Community Nurse program.
What are you going to do about rising healthcare costs in Vermont? In just 6 years, individual small group planning health insurance premium fees Increased to 80% The cost of the state’s health exchange-based policies has doubled. Recent research supervised by the Green Mountain Care Board We have identified key factors for cost containment. Shifting resources from high-cost hospitals to community-based and local primary care. There, we can address social barriers to health and health care. This will avoid many hospitalizations and costly emergency room visits.
Vermont’s health blueprint with a statewide system of community-based care was created in 2003 to achieve this. It’s a great start. Although the quality of care has improved and medical costs have been reduced, it needs to be more robust to save a lot of money. This can be achieved by widely using trusted healthcare coordinators/navigators who know the community and their resources, linking them to both blueprints and traditional healthcare systems. Does this work? National demonstration project In fact, repeated hospitalizations and reduced length of stays have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of these workers.
So, what are we waiting for? The Green Mountain Care Committee, which oversees the distribution of Vermont’s healthcare resources, focuses solely on traditional healthcare systems. To comprehensively oversee the costs of care, community care must be incorporated into its vision. Future changes to healthcare funding in Vermont have led to the time to develop a system of these care coordinators across the state.
Vermont is a small state with a small population. This could be one of the most expensive things to offer healthcare, but when it comes to providing a truly comprehensive, community-driven healthcare system that makes healthcare affordable You will also be given the opportunity to lead.
You can make a difference by writing your legislators and asking them to support you H.140.
The bill directs the Department of Health to administer the grant program with the aim of establishing a community nurse or community care coordinator program in the Vermont community. The goal of establishing a statewide network of city non-clinical health workers is to improve health outcomes and institutional care, as recommended in a report completed by a consultant with the Green Mountain Care Committee in November. to prevent avoidable care.
