The Vermont Experience: On the Front Lines of Healthcare Reform

I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to the White House Regional Forum on Healthcare Reform, this week in Burlington, VT at UVM. I attended the forum along with Bob Simmons, President of Boston Home Infusion and a NEMED Board Member, and Karyn Estrella, the Executive Director of NEMED. I had high hopes for the forum and was very excited to see our industry have a place in this critical conversation about the direction of our nations healthcare system.

I drove to Burlington late Monday night; initially I had planned to drive up and back on Tuesday, but the thought became too daunting and I bit the bullet and got a hotel room near campus for the night. Tuesday morning Bob, Karyn and I met to discuss some strategies for the forum and draft a letter we hoped to pass along to some of the assembled policy makers. The forum was co-hosted by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas and MA Governor Deval Patrick, also in attendance was White House Health Policy Czar, Nancy-Ann Deparle.

We arrived at approximately noon and were greeted by a large group of protesters, primarily advocating for a single payer healthcare system, an idea they felt was not being properly explored within the health reform conversation. We were seated approximately three rows from the stage, after proceeding through registration and security. The forum began with a welcome from the Governors, who each had some words to say about the state of healthcare in their own state.

The first topic was preventative medicine, or more broadly the conversation about prevention and the idea of a "sick-care" system rather than a healthcare system. There were some impassioned comments from a few attendees on the topic, as well as some physicians and other practitioners who spoke about their own experiences with this idea.

Next Governor Patrick moved the conversation to cost-containment, the broad topic of creating an efficient and affordable healthcare delivery system. I was the first speaker called upon and I delivered prepared remarks on the topic, which I have pasted below. Home medical equipment, when utilized to support the efficient and efficacious delivery of homecare, is the most cost effective means of delivering healthcare and remains an extremely effective way of slowing hospital admissions and other costly means of healthcare administration.

There was much more conversation about community based care, homecare, hospice care, etc. I was happy to see a recognition that folks in attendance understood the value of homecare, now we need the administration to craft policy taking these realities into account and to help the American people design a healthcare system that is sustainable, acceptable, and open to all.

The forum was a wonderful experience and there has been a lot of press following the event and I hope there are sustained efforts to keep up the chatter, deliver the message that homecare is central to the answer of spiraling costs, and a recognition at all levels that we cannot allow, and will not accept, this process of reform being hijacked by the largest organizations who have the most to gain through the writing and drafting of legislation which is favorable to their wishes, needs, and ultimately profits (or "surpluses" in the case of "non-profit" providers).

Here is a small selection of news coverage of the event, most of which contain quotes or references to my points; look for me speaking at the end of the NECN video:

AP Article on CNBC.com

Boston Globe Article

Burlington Free Press Article

NECN Video

           My Prepared Statement

My name is Gary Sheehan, I am the President and Chief Executive Officer of Cape Medical Supply; thank you for the opportunity to speak and for taking the time to listen to the American people. Special thanks to the office of MA Governor Deval Patrick for extending the invitation to attend and be a part of this important conversation.

I wear many hats relating to healthcare reform;

I am a recent cancer survivor, fortunate to have had good coverage and access to superior care to beat Hodgkin’s Lymphoma;

I am a small business owner, employing over 40 wonderful people; I provide healthcare coverage to my team members and have seen costs for this important benefit dramatically increase;

But I am here today as a healthcare provider; my small business is a home medical equipment and respiratory care provider.

The home medical equipment sector provides necessary care, service, and guidance to millions of Americans in their homes, and does so at reimbursement rates which create incredible savings and efficiencies for payers; rates that have in some cases been halved over the last decade. We feel strongly that the services and equipment we provide is the answer to the problem of skyrocketing costs and relish the opportunity to be a part of the solution to the nation’s healthcare crisis.

My question is this; what will the administration do to ensure that the millions of beneficiaries who rely on homecare services and equipment will continue to receive the services they depend on to live independently? Does the administration recognize the value homecare provides? What role will home medical equipment, homecare, and the millions of people served by our critical services, play in the coming wave of healthcare reform?