Jessica L. O'Hara
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) released Thursday, May 21, 2009, a briefing paper outlining the committee’s views on the direction health care overhaul legislation should take during the next few months. The committee’s proposals include establishing a commission to monitor the primary care workforce and integrating patient safety and quality measurement into curricula for health professional education.
“Strengthening the health workforce” is among one of the committee’s key goals for health care reform. According to the paper, a “Workforce Commission” would be established to issue recommendations to ensure a sufficient supply of primary care doctors, nurses, and other practitioners. In addition, the HELP Committee proposes the creation of new grant programs that would train health professionals in geriatric care to serve the nation’s growing aging population.
The HELP Committee paper also proposes building patient safety and best practices into curricula to aid heath care professionals in delivering new models of high quality patient care.
Differences exist between the Senate HELP Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, the two committees leading health care reform, on issues such as the creation of a public plan option and implementation of a health care coverage mandate. However, on May 30, Senate HELP Committee Chair Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) issued a joint statement to affirm their commitment to work collaboratively on health care reform. “For both of us, reforming the nation’s health care system to cut cost, improve quality, and provide affordable coverage remains the top priority of our two committees. We have worked together closely over many months and will continue to do so. We intend to ensure that our committees report similar and complementary legislation that can be quickly merged into one bill for consideration on the Senate floor before the August recess.”