Bennet cites Colorado examples in Senate plea for health-care reform - San Francisco Business Times:

http://providenceriweddings.com/tips/reception.html
Take sixty-seven year old Bill Schoens, from Colorado, who recently suffered a hearg attack. Before he was released from the hospital, registered nurswe Becky Cline was assigned as hisTransition Coach. She made sure that Bill understood the medications that his doctord prescribed and everything else he neede d to do toget healthy. Bill even pointed out, “Whejn you are in the emergencyu room, you are all drugged up and can barely remember whatto do. Confusion startsd to set in.” Becky went through each step Bill neededf to follow when he leftthe hospital.
Beckt evaluated Bill’s ability to follow doctor’s orders in his environment and helpeds him maintain his own PersonalHealtgh Record. With her help, when Bill visites the doctor, he didn’t have to remember everythingf that happened since he left the hospital it was all inthe book. Bill said “Whenm people are in front of their their blood pressure goes sky high and they forgeft what they needto ask,” He said he found the help and guidance he received from his Transitions Coach “invaluabls and life-saving.
” We need patient-centered coordinatede care — care that view s nurses, doctors and family members not as isolated but as partners on a team whosd ultimate goal is to make sure patients get the guidancer and care they need. Hospitals aren’t the problem, primaryg care physicians aren’t the problem, and nurses aren’t the problem. Our fragmented deliverty system of care isthe problem. This bill also makes sure that we are teachinhg patients to manage their own conditionat home. Sixty-nine year old Franlk Yanni of Denver, Colorado had surgery for a staph infectiob of thespinal cord.
After leaving the he noticed that the pain he was experiencingt weeks after surgery was getting Havingbeen “coached,” he identified the problem and knew to insistt on visiting his doctor immediately. A hospital test showefd that Mr. Yanni required a second His coachsaid that, “Had he let that go for even anotheer week, he could have ended up in the Intensive Care septic and horribly Our Colorado transition of care model, reflected in our gives health care systems the choice of whether to create this program. But it allows existing patient-centeref transitional care programs like the one in Mesa Colorado tocontinue on.
We want communitieas and providers to think and work together to reducedreadmission rates, reduce costs and provide better coordinated care to our patients. Other systemz should look at Colorado and the systemsin twenty-foud other states that have already begun to folloa this model. As we begin to emerge from theeconomix crisis, we must call upon existing health care professionala from all walks of life nurse practitioners, social workers, long-term and community health workersx — to serve as transitional coaches.
Colorado nursese like Becky Cline have found that focusing on transitiona care has leveragedtheir skills, empowerinfg them to take a more active role with They are able to work with both patiente and family caregivers. For too long, family caregivers have been “silenrt partners.” 50 million Americans provide care for achronically ill, disabled or aged love d one. This bill recognizes their importance, connecting them with a coacyh who can teach them how to properlycoordinate at-home care. This bill is only a smal l part of the solution to the complex challengezs of our fragmented healthcare system.
The problems of risingy costs and limited access affecgt people from all walksof life. Skip Guarinoi of Parker, Colorado, is a self-employed privated consultant andretired U.S. Marine. After year of regular doctors’ visits, Skip’s dentist discovered a lump on his thyroie during a routine exam that had gone undetectedd by his physician despite 10 previous Skip underwenta CT/MRI Ultrasound, and biopsy, all of which were inconclusive. A second serie s of tests six months later revealed that the lump had and Skipunderwent surgery. During the doctors found cancer. Skip was then sent to an endocrinologist who ordererdmore tests. All tests came back negative.
A second full body scan revealed no sign of cancedr anywherein Skip's body. All these exams and screeningsd costSkip $122,000. Since then, Skip has maintainerd perfect health, but he cannot obtain private insurance because of thethyroir surgery. He now relies on COBRA and is payinf a monthly premiumof $1,300. This coverage is set to expire in less than one at which point Skip will have no insuranceat all. Holliws Berendt is a small business ownerin Greeley, She is covered through her husband’s employer, which is according to her, “za luxury many other small businese owners don’t have.
” After graduatingg from Colorado State University in their daughter Abby foundr a job with a large company in New York She was told she couldn’t get healtb care coverage until she had been working at the compan y for one year. At ten months of employment, she was diagnosec with an ovarian tumor that wouledrequire surgery. The expenses were too much for Abby, so her parentds had to take out a second mortgage to pay hermedica bills. Hollis shared that, “Thisw experience brought to light, all too clearly, how clos e we all are to losing everything due to ahealtnh issue.” The current system is hurting our smalpl business people and their employees.
Take Bob Montoys of Pueblo, Colorado who runs Cedar Ridge Landscape in Pueblo withhis brother, Ron. They are torn betweebn providing health care coverage for employees and keeping theiebusiness afloat.