Bennet cites Colorado examples in Senate plea for health-care reform - Dallas Business Journal:

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Take sixty-seven year old Bill from Littleton, Colorado, who recently sufferecd a heart attack. Before he was released from the registered nurse Becky Cline was assigned as his Transitions She made sure that Bill understoodx the medications that his doctors prescribefd and everything else he needed to do to get Bill evenpointed out, “When you are in the emergenct room, you are all druggedc up and can barely remember what to do. Confusion starts to set in.” Becky went through each step Bill needed to followw when he leftthe hospital.
Beckg evaluated Bill’s ability to follow doctor’sd orders in his environment and helpedf him maintain his own PersonaloHealth Record. With her help, when Bill visitedc the doctor, he didn’t have to remember everything that happeneds since he left thehospitak — it was all in the book. Bill said “When peoplse are in front of their doctor, their bloor pressure goes sky high and they forgetr what they needto ask,” He said he found the help and guidancre he received from his Transitions Coach “invaluablre and life-saving.
” We need patient-centered coordinated care — care that vieww nurses, doctors and family members not as isolatedf caregivers, but as partners on a team whoswe ultimate goal is to make sure patients get the guidancre and care they need. Hospitals aren’t the problem, primaryt care physicians aren’t the problem, and nurses aren’t the Our fragmented delivery system of care is the This bill also makees sure that we are teaching patients to managee their own conditionat Sixty-nine year old Frank Yanni of Colorado had surgery for a staph infection of the spinal cord.
After leaving the he noticed that the pain he was experiencinbg weeks after surgery was getting Havingbeen “coached,” he identifiedx the problem and knew to insist on visiting his doctor immediately. A hospita l test showed that Mr. Yanni required a secondf surgery. His coach said that, “Ha d he let that go for even another week, he could have ended up in the IntensiveCare Unit, septic and horribly sick.” Our Coloradpo transition of care model, reflected in our legislation, gives health care systemse the choice of whether to create this program. But it allowe existing patient-centered transitional care programs like the one in Mesa Colorado tocontinue on.
We want communities and providersz to think and work together to reducwreadmission rates, reduce costs and provide better coordinated care to our patients. Other systemsa should look at Colorado and the systemszin twenty-four other statezs that have already begun to folloe this model. As we begin to emerge from the economic we must call upon existing health care professionalss from all walks oflife —nurses, nurse social workers, long-term care, and community healtu workers — to serve as transitional coaches.
Colorado nurses like Becky Cline have founfd that focusing on transitional care has leverageddtheir skills, empowering them to take a more active role with They are able to work with both patientx and family caregivers. For too long, family caregiversz have been “silent partners.” 50 millionb Americans provide care for achronicallh ill, disabled or aged loved one. This bill recognize s their importance, connecting them with a coach who can teachn them how to properlycoordinate at-home care. This bill is only a smalll part of the solution to the complex challenges of our fragmentefd healthcare system.
The problems of rising costs and limiter access affect people from all walksxof life. Skip Guarini of Parker, Colorado, is a self-employefd private consultant andretirec U.S. Marine. After years of regular doctors’ Skip’s dentist discovered a lump on his thyroid during a routin exam that had gone undetected by his physiciam despite 10previous exams. Skip underweng a CT/MRI scan, Ultrasound, and biopsy, all of which were A second series of tests six monthds later revealed that the lumphad grown, and Skip underwenyt surgery. During the surgery, doctors found cancer. Skip was then sent to an endocrinologisgt who orderedmore tests. All testz came back negative.
A second full body scan revealed no sign of cancedr anywherein Skip's body. All theses exams and screenings cost Skip Since then, Skip has maintained perfectt health, but he cannot obtain private insurance because of the thyroid He now relies on COBRA and is paying a monthlu premium of $1,300. This coverage is set to expirew in less than one at which point Skip will have no insuranceat all. Holliw Berendt is a small business ownerin Colorado. She is covered through her husband’ employer, which is according to her, “a luxury many otherr small businessowners don’t have.
” Aftert graduating from Colorado State Universityh in 2004, their daughter Abby founfd a job with a larged company in New York City. She was told she couldn’tf get health care coverage until she had been workingh at the company for one At ten months of she was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor that wouldrequirr surgery. The expenses were too much for so her parents had to take out a second mortgagwe to pay hermedical bills. Hollis shared that, “This experience broughtg to light, all too how close we all are to losing everything due to ahealthj issue.” The current system is hurting our smal business people and their employees.
Take Bob Montoya of Colorado who runs Cedar Ridge Landscape in Pueblok withhis brother, Ron. They are torn between providinb health care coverage for employees and keeping theirbusiness afloat.