GLMS TOWN HALL IS A HUGE SUCCESS
Dr. Alvarado discusses Smoke-Free Kentucky as
Sen. McGarvey looks on.
State Senators Ralph Alvarado, MD, and Morgan McGarvey visited
the Old Medical School building for GLMS’s Legislative Town Hall
where dozens of leading Jefferson County physicians, residents and
students were on hand for the event.
GLMS President Robert Couch, MD, MBA, welcomed attendants,
saying, “Thank you to those who came out to learn how health
care policy and health care law is currently being addressed at the
state level in Kentucky. By hosting senators from both sides of the
aisle, we hope to gain insight into what happened regarding our top
legislative concerns in the 2015 General Assembly and also what we
should expect to see in the 2016 session.”
The senators, who are on opposite sides of politics, found common
ground on their beliefs regarding Kentucky health care. Senators
McGarvey and Alvarado both expressed optimism about the direction
taken by the Frankfort legislature during the 2015 session.
“It’s easy to say how awful government is, but I think we had a really
good session this time and many bills had a lot of bipartisan support,” said Sen. McGarvey.
They began the night by leading the physicians in attendance through
their thoughts and processes for each piece of health care legislation which passed during the 2015 session including MOST (Medical
Order for Scope of Treatment), medical review panels, and the Good
Samaritan/heroin bill.
Speaking about the heroin bill, Sen. McGarvey said, “This bill really
put Kentucky on the forefront nationally of, not combating drugs, but
shifting and looking at drugs in a more holistic way. This whole idea
that we’re going to lock people up and throw away the key hasn’t
been effective in lessening drug use in the state. While we did get
tougher on those trafficking drugs, we recognize that addiction is a
disease. This bill has compassion in it.”
GLMS Treasurer Frank Burns, MD, serves as moderator.
constituents. That’s how he made his decision.”
Sen. McGarvey agreed. “We pass these bills with the best of intentions
and as much information as we can get, but once it goes into effect,
if it doesn’t go the way we wanted it to, we rely on feedback from the
people we represent. People think there is this wall between us and
those we represent, but I answer my own phone and check my own
e-mail. It’s not like going to Washington or some big scary thing.”
The senators also took a look at health care priorities for the 2016
session including: Fair contracting practices by health plans, maintenance of certification and maintenance of licensure, Smoke-Free
Kentucky, professional liability reform and vision testing during
Kentucky driver’s license renewal.
Regarding Smoke-Free Kentucky, Dr. Alvarado said “This is not really
a partisan issue. The media makes it that way. It’s a common sense
issue. It’s a public health issue. There are democrats and republicans
both who support these measures. I think most people know in
their hearts it’s the right thing to do but they’re worried about the
backlash.” Dr. Alvarado added that many legislators are working to
pass a bill, but it’s a work in progress.”
Physicians in attendance gave glowing reviews of the night, remarking on the opportunity to talk face to face with these state legislators
and discuss several issues both politely and confidently.
“The senators gave great summaries on what we’ve accomplished
and what we hope to achieve in the next session,” said GLMS Treasurer Frank Burns, MD, who moderated the town hall. “It was really
a great event. I’d love to see it happen again next year.”
Dr. Alvarado continued, adding, “The cool part of this was that it
was a bipartisan compromise. At the last second, the House agreed
to compromise. Part of that was the needle exchange, which also
gave an opportunity for an intervention with the person who comes
to make the exchange.… If we didn’t get this passed, it would have
been a failure of a session.”
Both senators encouraged physicians to reach out to their legislato '0