Secondary Reforms

SECONDARY REFORMS

1)    Encourage local healthcare communities to develop their own electronic medical records. This will decrease duplication of tests and radiographic studies without giving Washington access to, or control over, private medical records.
2)    Develop a centralized and simplified electronic billing system to reduce physician and hospital overhead. This also can screen data in real time for fraud and abuse.
3)    End the abusive physician and hospital RAC audits that needlessly burden healthcare providers. (This can be done once Medicare and Medicaid gain the ability to screen real-time data for fraud).
4)    Link “best practices” in medicine to protection from frivolous litigation. This will encourage physicians to practice evidence-based, state-of-the-art medicine.
5)    Encourage preventative medicine by structuring insurance policies to incentivize basic healthcare maintenance.
6)    Incentivize smoking cessation and weight loss. This would be done through private insurance companies offering discounts for healthy living, not through a federal mandate.
7)    Initiate an “ask about generics” campaign to help reduce pharmaceutical costs without penalizing pharmaceutical companies.
8)    Encourage patients, physicians, and families to have end-of-life discussions. Patients and physicians must address this sensitive subject in order to prevent Washington from forcing itself into this exceptionally private conversation.