Policy Consensus E-News — February 2005
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In this issue:
- NPCC Publishes Report on Using Collaboration to Achieve “Health Care Solutions”
- Minnesota Legislators Turn Out for “Beyond Bickering” Workshop
- Case Study: Montana Consensus Council Facilitates Medicaid Reform
New
NPCC Report Promotes Collaborative
Approaches to Health Care Access
NPCC in January published “Improving Health Care Access: Finding Solutions in a Time of Crisis” (1.0 MB PDF). This third report in NPCC’s “Solutions” series offers recommendations for governors and other state officials on ways to improve the use and effectiveness of collaborative approaches to achieve better access to health care.
The report is an outgrowth of an NPCC-sponsored colloquium for experts in health, health care policy and financing, community collaborations, and coalition and consensus building in the health arena.
“Obstacles to health care access represent a profound national problem that grows worse each year,” writes PCI/NPCC Co-Chair John Kitzhaber, M.D., in the foreword to the report. As a 14-year veteran of the state legislature and a two-term Governor of Oregon, Kitzhaber played a key role in building and financing state programs to improve access to health care. “Yet some of the best potential elements we conceived were sabotaged by unduly rigid regulatory environments, and by competition and conflicts of interest among stakeholder groups.”
Written by NPCC Fellow Tina Castañares, MD, the report includes four case examples of how communities have enhanced access to health care, and the vital roles that state and federal government have played in those successes. It also includes dozens of useful web resources on collaborative approaches to health care access.
A printed version of the report is available on request.
“Beyond Bickering”
Minnesota Legislators Attend Two-Day
Consensus Building Workshop
 Minnesota lawmakers work together at the "Beyond Bickering" workshop. Clockwise (from top): Sen. Ellen Anderson (D-St. Paul), Rep. Fran Bradley (R-Rochester), Rep. Michael Beard (R-Shakopee), unidentified, Rep. Phyllis Kahn (D-Minneapolis), Rep. Kathy Tinglestad (R-Andover), Sen. Sandy Pappas (D-St. Paul). (Photograph by Michael Khoo, Minnesota Public Radio) |
More than 60 members of the Minnesota Legislature in January attended a two-day workshop on dispute resolution in a legislative setting. Sponsored by the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs , the National Council of State Legislators, and PCI, the workshop offered practical steps to finding consensus on contentious issues.
The event – “Beyond Bickering and Gridlock: Your Role in Changing the Legislature” – was organized by Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, a long-time champion of collaborative lawmaking who organized a similar workshop in 1996. According to Kiscaden, the “increasingly partisan tone” among political activists who control the endorsement and nominating process for elected officials has alienated lawmakers from most Minnesotans.
"Compromise is not a four-letter word," Kiscaden told a reporter from Minnesota Public Radio. "Compromise is what resolving public disputes is about; finding solutions, finding things that work for the good of the whole, having a vision for the future. All of those things are what people really expect us to do."
Among the presenters were Ralph Becker, Utah House Minority Leader, and former Kansas Senate Majority Leader Lana Oleen – both PCI Board members, and PCI Executive Director Chris Carlson. Bruce Feustel, NCSL Senior Fellow, also played a key role in the workshop.
According to Feustel, legislators from across the country are reporting more bickering, gridlock, and polarization than ever before. “The clear message we get from Republicans and Democrats is that they don’t like it,” Feustel told the Pioneer Press in St Paul. “It isn’t what they signed on for. Everyone wants the collegial atmosphere to return.”
For more information about the workshop, or to schedule a legislative workshop in your state, contact PCI.
Case
Study
Montana Consensus Council Assists State in
Comprehensive Medicaid Redesign Program
This case is excerpted from the Executive Summary of the Final Report released by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services.
As a result of Montana’s revenue shortfalls during 2001 and 2003, the Department of Public Health and Human Services was forced to make difficult decisions that resulted in significant reductions in the state’s Medicaid program. The Department was determined to avoid similar crisis management in future legislative sessions.
To accomplish this, the Department requested legislation to formalize a review of their public health programs. Resulting legislation (HJ 13) directed the Department to conduct a study regarding the programs it administered, and provide a report to the 2005 Legislature outlining options for redesigning those programs.
Because the Medicaid program either directly or indirectly impacts the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of Montana citizens and involves huge sums of public funds, it was important that the redesign process include active participation by the public.
For these reasons, Governor Martz appointed a 20-member Public Health Care Advisory Council (PHCAC). Representatives of a broad spectrum of individuals and groups that might be affected by changes to the Medicaid program were selected to assist the Department in developing recommendations.
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