BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A Pennsylvania think tank this week brought together medical professionals to talk about how to improve our health care system.
An Allentown doctor, nurse practitioner from northeast Pennsylvania and a health care policy expert all weighed in during an online gathering of The Commonwealth Foundation.
The foundation — Pennsylvania’s leading free-market public policy research organization — had asked medical providers and researchers about their experience with healthcare in the state.
They talked about what they see firsthand and how to make positive change.
"Choice and control are two buzzwords I hear from my patients. Choice and control, and they feel like they don't have much of either one."Allentown physician and family medicine specialist Dr. Kimberly Legg-Corba
"Choice and control are two buzzwords I hear from my patients," Allentown physician and family medicine specialist Dr. Kimberly Legg-Corba said.
"Choice and control, and they feel like they don't have much of either one."
Legg-Corba said she stopped taking insurance at her office about 10 years ago and switched to a payment model in the office to direct primary care.
She shared that cost is the No. 1 concern in health care, followed by access and attention.
The other panelists agreed, including Elizabeth Stelle, who is director of policy analysis at the Commonwealth Foundation. The Foundation is Pennsylvania’s leading free-market public policy research organization.
'Drive down the cost of health care'
Stelle said her team has looked at a way to decrease government overregulation through something called the Personal Option.
"The idea is that if you're a patient, you're insured, let's say you need an MRI, and you know you have time to shop around," Stelle said.
"It's not something that you urgently need. If you ask for the cash price, and then you find a cash price that's less than what your insurance is going to pay, you can get that counted toward your deductible, you save the insurance company money, and you drive down the cost of health care.”
Stelle said she hears people across the state say they’d rather pay out of pocket for minor health care services and use insurance for the major incidents.
"The broader framework is transparency and accountability."Elizabeth Stelle, Director of Policy Analysis, Commonwealth Foundation
"The broader framework is transparency and accountability,” she said.
“Accountability specifically in how we enroll folks and keep folks in the Medicaid system, empowering patients to shop and to save for transparency, creating more convenience in the system."
She said more can be done to increase access to care.
"We just had a telemedicine law-signing, but there's a lot more that we could do to make it more convenient to access care the way you want it, when you want it, removing limitations on providers so that they can serve more patients and spend less time pushing around paperwork.”
'Removing limitations on providers'
During the discussion, Nurse Practitioner Dallas Riley told of her limitation with the health care system. Riley is the owner of Hall & Riley Comprehensive Healthcare in Shickshinny, Luzerne County.
Nurse practitioners across the state are faced with significant regulatory barriers that restrict their scope of practice, she said.
"There's a lot more that we could do to make it more convenient to access care the way you want it, when you want it."Elizabeth Stelle, director of policy analysis at the Commonwealth Foundation
“As a nurse practitioner, just the requirement of having a collaborative physician, that just means that I can't renew my license without that agreement,” Riley said.
She said a lot of nurse practitioners have to pay $3,000 to $5,000 a month for a collaborative physician in order to see their patients, many of whom never meet the collaborative physician.
The group also discussed their ideal improvements within the system.
Stelle said there is legislation that could help improve how Pennsylvanians receive care, such as a law recently signed by Gov. Shapiro that expands telehealth throughout the state.
"We just had a telemedicine law signing, but there's a lot more that we could do to make it more convenient to access care the way you want it, when you want it," Stelle said.
"Removing limitations on providers so that they can serve more patients and spend less time pushing around paperwork."
The Commonwealth Foundation has a web page dedicated to explaining the Personal Choice plan.
