Health care workers at a recent symposium in Greenville heard suggestions for improving the delivery of health care to eastern North Carolina, a region challenged by medical issues among some populations. They also were given an overview of the approaching effect of health care reform.
President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010, but the bulk of reform takes effect in 2014.
At the Health Care Reform Symposium on Friday at the East Carolina Heart Institute, Allen Feezor, senior policy adviser with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, told the audience that he hoped his remarks on health care reform would prompt them to take action now to prepare for the new law’s effect on their medical practices and facilities in 2014.
Feezor stressed that health care reform is a law despite pending court challenges elsewhere.
“We still seem to talk about health care reform as if it’s a bill,” he said. “The fact of the matter is it is law.”
States that aren’t preparing for the law’s implementation were “bordering on being derelict in (their) duties,” Feezor said.
State officials must manage the law’s enactment under tight timelines. And many key points are resolved by states, including decisions on which benefits are considered essential.
“The heavy lifting is left up to the states,” he said.
Feezor, who said his presentation was a reflection of his own opinions, not those of his department or Gov. Beverly Perdue’s administration, said the law missed some opportunities, including ones aimed at cost containment.
Despite the state’s budget crunch, states need to put the infrastructure in place to enroll the uninsured, a scenario that could cause some initial problems with some enrollments. However, he said North Carolina has the process under way, so it can be ready.
The good news is about a million more people will have health care financing, he said, but the bad news is the increased demand could create a strain on medical practices that aren’t ready for it 20 months from now.
“That’s a big bump for demand on health care services,” he said.
Many people will be served by the tax credit exchange program. In addition, it’s estimated there will be 500,000 to 600,000 new Medicaid recipients, with a “significant number of them in eastern North Carolina,” Feezor said.
About 50,000 small businesses statewide are expected to offer insurance for the first time, and about 250,000 people with individual coverage could switch to the exchange program, he said.
Health care providers can expect to see a surge in demand for services, Feezor said, with people “starting to hit your doors and our clinics” for services.
He urged his audience to be prepared and also to enlist the help of community-based organizations to find the uninsured and begin the enrollment process early on to combat the expected crush.
Providers also need to be ready to generate more data due to the requirements for greater accountability.
The symposium is one of several events that will be held for the health care community to address issues in eastern North Carolina. It was jointly sponsored by ECU’s Brody School of Medicine and University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina.
The public can find out more information on health care reform at the federal website address of HealthCare.gov.
Contact K.J. Williams at kwilliams@reflector.com or 252-329-9588.
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