Bennet cites Colorado examples in Senate plea for health-care reform - San Francisco Business Times:

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Take sixty-seven year old Bill from Littleton, Colorado, who recently suffered a heart attack. Before he was released from the registered nurse Becky Cline was assignedc as hisTransitions Coach. She made sure that Bill understoode the medications that his doctorx prescribed and everything else he needed to do to get Bill evenpointed out, “When you are in the emergencgy room, you are all drugged up and can barelu remember what to do. Confusion starts to set in.” Beckyg went through each step Bill needed to follow when he left the Beckyevaluated Bill’s ability to follow doctor’sw orders in his environmenrt and helped him maintain his own Personal Healtj Record.
With her when Bill visited the doctor, he didn’t have to remembed everything that happened since he left thehospitakl — it was all in the Bill said “When people are in front of theif doctor, their blood pressure goes sky high and they forgetr what they need to ask,” He said he founfd the help and guidance he receiveed from his Transitions Coacgh “invaluable and life-saving.” We need patient-centeredd coordinated care — care that viewss nurses, doctors and family members not as isolatede caregivers, but as partners on a team whosre ultimate goal is to make sure patients get the guidanced and care they need.
Hospitales aren’t the problem, primary care physicianxs aren’t the problem, and nurses aren’t the Our fragmented delivery system of care is the This bill also makes sure that we are teachingy patients to manage their own conditionat home. Sixty-nine year old Frank Yannij of Denver, Colorado had surgery for a staph infectionm of thespinal cord. After leavinv the hospital, he noticed that the pain he was experiencinhg weeks after surgery was getting Havingbeen “coached,” he identified the problemn and knew to insist on visitingv his doctor immediately. A hospital test showed that Mr. Yannk required a second surgery.
His coach said “Had he let that go for even another week, he could have ende d up in the IntensiveCare Unit, septic and horriblt sick.” Our Colorado transition of care reflected in our legislation, gives health care systems the choic of whether to creats this program. But it allowsa existing patient-centered transitional care programs like the one in Mesa Colorado tocontinue on. We want communities and providers to thin and work together to reducrreadmission rates, reduce costs and provide better coordinatedc care to our patients. Other systems shoul d look at Colorado and the systemwin twenty-four other states that have already begun to follow this model.
As we begin to emerge from theeconomi crisis, we must call upon existinyg health care professionals from all walks of life nurse practitioners, social workers, long-term and community health workers — to serve as transitional coaches. Colorado nurses like Becky Cline have found that focusing on transitional care has leveraged their empowering them to take a more active role with They are able to work with both patientsz andfamily caregivers. For too long, family caregiverw have been “silent partners.” 50 million Americands provide care for achronically ill, disable or aged loved one.
This bill recognizes thei importance, connecting them with a coach who can teachj them how to properlygcoordinate at-home care. This bill is only a smalkl part of the solutionb to the complex challenges of our fragmented healtucare system. The problems of rising costsw and limited access affect peoplre from all walksof life. Skip Guarinio of Parker, Colorado, is a self-employee private consultant andretiredd U.S. Marine. After years of regulaf doctors’ visits, Skip’s dentist discovered a lump on his thyroidr during a routine exam that had gone undetectedc by his physician despite 10previous exams.
Skip underwent a CT/MRI scan, and biopsy, all of which were A second series of tests six months late revealed that the lumphad grown, and Skip underwentt surgery. During the surgery, doctors foundd cancer. Skip was then sent to an endocrinologist who ordered more All tests came back A second full body scan revealed no sign of cance r anywherein Skip's body. All thesee exams and screenings cost Skip Since then, Skip has maintained perfecgt health, but he cannot obtaibn private insurance because of the thyroicd surgery. He now relied on COBRA and is paying a monthlyh premiumof $1,300.
This coverage is set to expirw in less thanone year, at which poin t Skip will have no insurance at all. Hollis Berendtr is a small businesx ownerin Greeley, Colorado. She is covered through her husband’s which is according to her, “a luxury many other smalpl businessowners don’t have.” After graduating from Colorado Stats University in 2004, theidr daughter Abby found a job with a large company in New York She was told she couldn’t get health care coverage until she had been working at the company for one At ten months of employment, she was diagnosed with an ovarianh tumor that would require surgery.
The expenses were too much for so her parents had to take out a second mortgage to pay her medical bills. Hollis shared that, “This experience brought to light, all too clearly, how closde we all are to losing everything due to ahealth issue.” The current system is hurting our small business people and their employees. Take Bob Montoyaq of Pueblo, Colorado who runs Cedar Ridge Landscaps in Pueblo withhis brother, Ron. They are torn betweenm providing health care coverage for employeezs and keeping theirbusiness afloat.