Gov. Blunt outlines proposal to improve access to care

Blunt’s proposal would establish Health Care Homes for participating patients in places such as Federally Qualified Health Centers and community-based health facilities that provide care to the uninsured and underserved.

“My first concern as we design a new health care system is to improve access for patients and help lower the cost of health insurance for everybody,” Blunt said. “I have talked, and more importantly, listened to Missourians about their health care needs. It is clear that we can make some common sense changes to our health care system that will make a big difference in the quality of care for patients.”

Not everyone, however, is convinced that the Health Care Home – designed to give participating patients a home base for health care needs – is the best way to go.

First Things First, a grassroots effort aimed at remedying Missouri’s health care crisis, held a press conference in Springfield Jan. 23, on the eve of Blunt’s Jan. 24 State of the State address.

That group is calling for restoration of health care coverage and services that were cut for thousands of Missourians in 2005. First Things First also would like to see a plan that guarantees quality, affordable coverage for all Missourians, especially those who are uninsured.

The Health Care Home model provides a coordinated point of entry for health care services and is designed to improve participants’ health, reduce the need for costly specialty services, reduce non-essential emergency room visits, and lower preventable hospitalizations. The program enhances care by giving health care providers access to the tools and information they need, such as patients’ medical history, prescription information and chronic illness history. 

Federally Qualified Health Centers already serve as a Health Care Home for many Missouri patients. One component of the governor’s Lewis & Clark Discovery Initiative is an agreement to send more than $60 million to expand and support FQHCs over six years. If the initiative is validated by the legislature, the governor has said he will propose and support funding the entire amount in one year. The funding will benefit patients who use FQHCs through added space, new research and education spaces.

The governor’s funding recommendations also will include a new project to support collaboration between Community Mental Health Centers and FQHCs. The project will work to identify behavioral health disorders earlier in the primary care setting and to reduce the gap between public and behavioral health systems. The governor will recommend $750,000 in his next fiscal year’s budget for this project, and an additional $5 million next year for a Healthcare Information Technology Initiative. The initiative will allow health centers to build an electronic health record system. The new system will help close the digital divide that currently exists between providers.