Rolling Hills Plan in Tennessee Could be Outline for Health Reform Nationwide
As published in Modern Healthcare May 18, 2009
For the past 30 years that I have been in the healthcare business, I have said and heard others say, "This is the year for healthcare reform!"
During those 30 years, no one has been able to fix the healthcare system, and I’ve watched it become more and more dysfunctional.
For many reasons, not the least of which are the nation’s economic problems and the election of President Barack Obama, it appears the sun, moon and stars are finally aligned to make healthcare reform a reality. For the past 18 months, a group in Tennessee—called the Rolling Hills Group and headed by R. Clayton McWhorter, a well-known healthcare entrepreneur, and 14 other healthcare and nonhealthcare leaders—has worked to develop a proposal that hopefully will get the attention of those responsible for crafting a reform plan for the nation.
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Industry Plan Would Use DSH, Taxes On Benefits To Finance Reform
As published at Inside Health Reform www.insidehealthpolicy.com April 22, 2009
A group of Tennessee-based industry stakeholders, advised by former CMS chief Tom Scully, is rolling out a health reform plan that would phase in universal coverage offered through private insurance pools by 2019. The plan would be paid for by capping the tax exclusion on employer-sponsored benefits and reducing disproportionate share hospitals’ (DSH) funding for uncompensated care. The Rolling Hills Group — named after the place where the members met to craft the plan — is chaired by former Hospital Corporation of America CEO Clayton McWhorter and includes representatives from the insurance, financial and provider industry.
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Editorial: A government role on care gains ground
As published by The Tennessean April 12, 2009
As debate over health-care reform continues, it is becoming increasingly clear that a system with a strong government-managed plan is the only real chance for righting a wrecked system.
Advocates for health-care reform generally fall into two categories. There are those who have clamored for years to change the system because of the outrageous costs of care and the fact those costs have forced 47 million people to go without coverage, with millions more underinsured. Then there are those who have been dragged kicking and screaming to the table but finally realize change is inevitable and decide they need to be on board, often because they want to preserve their piece of the pie.
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Tennessee: State’s Health Care Reform Praised
As published in the Chattanooga Times Free Press April 9, 2009
Lessons learned from the “TennCare experiment” in universal health care, which threatened to bankrupt the state earlier this decade, make Tennessee a prime site to pilot national health care reform initiatives, members of a health care reform group said Wednesday.
"Tennessee has been a model state. That’s one of the reasons why we think we could do this," said Jim Brexler, president and CEO of Erlanger hospital and a member of the Rolling Hills Group. "We’ve learned
some lessons from the TennCare experiment (which expanded the state’s Medicaid program significantly). ...
We’ve done it before and, frankly, we’ve been burned by some of those things before, so maybe we’d be very
good to work though it."
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Tenn. Execs Outline Plan for Healthcare Reform
As published by Modern Healthcare April 8, 2009
A broad group of Tennessee healthcare executives have announced a proposal that would make their state one of the key laboratories for healthcare reforms that could then be extended across the country over the next 10 years. The national proposal from the Rolling Hills Group attempts to build on the current mix of private and public funding.
Group Hopes State Leads U.S. Health Care Reform
As Published by the Chattanooga Times Free Press and republished in part by The Associated Press, www.msnbc.com, www.waaytv.com and www.usatoday.com April 7, 2009
A Tennessee-based group, including hospital executives and a former BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee leader, is hoping to make Tennessee a laboratory for national health care reform.
On Monday, the Rolling Hills Group announced a proposal to achieve universal health care in a plan that reformers say would pay for itself. The proposal includes a requirement that all Americans have comprehensive insurance by 2019, and it would prohibit insurers from denying coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
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Rolling Hills Group Offers Practical Health Reform Plan in Response to President`s Call for Grassroots Input
As posted at www.reuters.com and www.cnbc.com and www.upi.com and www.smartmoney.com and www.marketwatch.com April 6, 2009
Responding to President Barack Obama`s call for state and local level input to help craft workable health reform this year, the Rolling Hills Group, comprised of Tennessee leaders interested in helping to achieve health reform, is offering a plan that would achieve healthcare coverage for all Americans in a way that is "budget neutral."
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Health Group Volunteers Tennessee as Test Site for Universal Coverage
As published in The Tennessean April 5, 2009 and republished by AARP Bulletin today
While Washington has put health reform on the fast track, a group of Tennessee thought leaders wants to see a more gradual approach that uses this state, and perhaps a few others, as laboratories to test ideas, improve access to care and trim medical costs.
Under its proposal — to be unveiled this week — The Rolling Hills Group recommends phasing in universal coverage over 10 years at a rough cost of $100 billion a year. The group includes representatives of private business, hospitals and an ex-BlueCross BlueShield executive, all of whom want a say in the national debate.
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Practical Health Reform Plan Offered in Response to President's Call for Grassroots Input
Universal Coverage and Budget Neutral, Plan Would Produce Higher Value From Health Care
NASHVILLE, TN, April 6, 2009—Responding to President Barack Obama’s call for state and local level input to help craft workable health reform this year, the Rolling Hills Group, comprised of Tennessee leaders interested in helping to achieve health reform, is offering a plan that would achieve healthcare coverage for all Americans in a way that is “budget neutral.”
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