Volume 17, No. 2, Spring 2009
(Gary Sheehan, President/CEO of Cape Medical Supply, attended the recent Vermont Regional White House Forum on Healthcare Reform. Following is a summary of his report on what transpired.)
By Gary Sheehan
On arrival we were greeted by a large group of protesters, primarily advocating for a single-payer healthcare system, an idea they felt was not being properly explored within the health reform conversation.
Inside, before an audience of some 400 invited guests, the first topic was preventive medicine, or more broadly a conversation about prevention and the idea of a "sick-care" system rather than a healthcare system.
Next Governor Deval Patrick moved the conversation to cost-containment, the broad topic of creating an efficient and affordable healthcare delivery system. I was the first speaker and I pointed out that home medical equipment, when utilized to support the efficient and efficacious delivery of home care, is the most cost-effective means of delivering healthcare and an effective way of slowing hospital admissions and other costly means of healthcare administration.
There was much more conversation about community-based care, home care, and Hospice care. I was happy to see that those in attendance understood the value of home care and how we need the administration to design a healthcare system that is sustainable, acceptable, and open to all.
The forum was a wonderful experience and there has been a lot of press following the event and I hope there are sustained efforts to keep up the chatter, deliver the message that home care is central to the answer of spiraling costs, and a recognition at all levels that we cannot allow, and will not accept, this process of reform being hijacked by the largest organizations who have the most to gain through the writing and drafting of legislation which is favorable to their wishes, needs, and ultimately profits (or "surpluses" in the case of “non-profit” providers).