Committee is developing materials and a campaign to reach out to
the newly insured. Messages emphasize that health insurance is not
just for when you are sick – it also helps you stay healthy. Messages
stress the importance of regular health care visits and preventive
screenings, which are now offered with no copays. The Health Literacy and Education Committee also seeks to educate new enrollees
on the appropriate use of the health care system emphasizing which
ailments are better treated by a primary care provider or an urgent
care center and that use of the hospital emergency room should be
reserved for truly life – threatening situations. Local emergency
room usage has gone up since the start of ACA enrollment. A
recent article by Courier-Journal reporter Laura Ungar pointed to
a 12 percent spike in Norton Hospital emergency room visits. University of Louisville hospital is reporting an 18 percent increase in
ER visits this year, although KentuckyOne Health reports that their
emergency room visits are about the same as last year. This increase
in local emergency room visitation, however, may be temporary.
After an initial two year increase in emergency room visits following the enactment of health reform in Massachusetts, emergency
room visits actually fell by 8 percent overall.
The local spike in emergency room visits may also be fueled by
pent-up demand among a population who have been deferring
medical treatment and who have not yet found a “medical home,”
a regular primary care physician or advanced practice nurse. The
Health Literacy and Education Committee will also work to help
new enrollees find a medical home. The committee has already
created and distributed more than 40,000 English and Spanish
language brochures, and has applied for a federal grant to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health to fund materials for the
second phase of the campaign.
The Workforce Capacity Committee
The Workforce Capacity Committee, headed by Mr. Tim Marcum
of Baptist Health Louisville, is charged with determining whether
the Louisville area has sufficient primary care and other physician
resources to handle a sudden influx of 66,000 and potentially 102,000
new patients. The home addresses of those newly enrolled either
under Medicaid expansion or under a Qualified Health Plan have
been mapped by ZIP code. A task now will be to determine t B