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Tennessee health care task force finalizing work

Joel Ebert
Valerie Nagoshiner, from left, Raquel Hatter, Marie Williams and a room full of onlookers listen to  Douglas Varney, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, right, tell a panel of lawmakers about the state's mental health needs on Tuesday, May 31, 2016.

After holding six meetings throughout the state that have focused on creating a pilot program that would provide increased access to health care coverage to uninsured Tennesseans, a House task force is hoping to zero in on its plan, which has yet to be formulated, in advance of a meeting with federal authorities before the end of June.

The "3-Star Healthy Project," which House Speaker Beth Harwell announced in April as part of an effort to provide health care to the working poor, held its latest meeting on Tuesday, hearing from officials of various state agencies, including the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services.

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Although a significant portion of the discussion, which was held in Nashville in front of an audience that at one point was as large as 60 people, included talks about safety net programs for Tennesseans, telemedicine and mental health and drug and alcohol abuse treatment efforts, there were no actual decisions made by the committee of lawmakers.

Instead, the group continued its listening tour in an effort to learn more about a plan it hopes to formulate in the coming weeks.

The plan for now is for lawmakers to come up with their final recommendations in the next three weeks, which will then be presented to federal regulators in Washington, D.C., during the week of June 21, according to Rep. Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, who serves as chairman of the task force.

The task force's creation came as Harwell faced mounting pressure this year to do something related to Insure Tennessee, whether bring it to the floor or propose an alternative. Supporters of the measure — among them Nashville philanthropist Martha Ingram — launched a billboard campaign in March aimed at Harwell. Others protested outside her office, bringing in old shoes to symbolize walking in the footsteps of the uninsured.

The five lawmakers who attended Tuesday's meeting — Sexton, Reps. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough; Roger Kane, R-Knoxville; Steve McManus, R-Cordova; and Karen Camper, D-Memphis — reached no conclusions, but a variety of government officials offered ideas to consider as the group moves forward.

During his presentation, Douglas Varney, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, made a variety of recommendations to the group, including suggesting that providing primary care providers with more education on substance abuse can help address the needs of those struggling with the problem.

Beyond Varney, the task force also heard testimony from Raquel Hatter, commissioner of the Department of Human Services, and Valerie Nagoshiner, chief of staff for the Department of Health. Hatter fielded several questions about the various programs that provide temporary financial assistance to Tennesseans, while Nagoshiner focused her comments on a variety of health care safety nets the state has.

With significant talks about mental health and substance abuse throughout the day, Sexton ultimately concluded the issue probably would be included in the task force's final recommendations.

“If we’re looking at starting at some point, I’d say there’s a good chance that we would be starting at the behavioral health side,” he said after the meeting.

Although there was no mention of Insure Tennessee during the meeting, when reporters asked Sexton about Gov. Bill Haslam's plan to use federal funds to expand health insurance access to hundreds of thousands of low-income Tennesseans, which failed to generate enough support in the legislature last year, the chairman reassured that the task force's final product would be different.

"We're really diving in so you're looking at a behavioral health side, you're looking in at maybe a phase-in approach with triggers and circuit breakers, you're looking at incentives for providers," Sexton said — all points that were brought up during the initial announcement of the task force's formation.

Sexton said the task force is looking at a "more comprehensive approach," which he explained is not defined by the number of people covered but the number of benefits.

When asked how many people could be affected by the yet-to-be formed plan, Sexton wouldn't offer specifics. "We're still looking at that," he said, noting that it also is unknown how much the potential expansion might cost the state.

The task force also heard from Mary Bufwack CEO of Neighborhood Health, an organization that has community health centers throughout Middle Tennessee, and Whitney Weeks of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, who stressed the importance of expanding health care coverage.

Sexton said as of Tuesday, no other public meetings were scheduled to take place, but he assured that as the committee works on more details of the plan, it probably will meet with various state agencies once again.
