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For Immediate Release
June 23, 2003
Senate
Approves White's Bill to Preserve Health Care Cost Containment Council
Harrisburg -- The state Senate
today approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Mary Jo White (R-21) to
extend the life of the Health Care Cost Containment Council.
Without passage of Senate
Bill 387, the HCCC would lose its authorization on June 30. The
legislation would extend the sunset date by six years.
The
HCCC is an independent state agency created in 1986 to address rising
health care costs. The council aims to control costs by ranking the most
efficient and effective health care providers to help consumers and
group purchasers of health care make informed decisions. It also
collects information for health care providers that they can use to
identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care
they deliver.
To
help members of the General Assembly draft legislation, the HCCC also
studies the issue of access to care for the uninsured and makes
recommendations about proposed or existing mandated health insurance
benefits.
"Consumers,
health care providers, insurers and legislators all benefit from the
information that the Health Care Cost Containment Council provides,"
said White. "The council's public reports have
achieved national recognition for providing
purchasers, providers and consumers with credible,
comparative information."
Senate
Bill 387 would expand the number of voting members of the council from
21 to 28 – adding four legislators, a nurse, a physician, and a rural
hospital representative. To reduce costs, the bill would streamline the
amount of information that hospitals and insurers are required to
submit.
"Health
care is a complex issue, and the more reliable information available,
the better," said White. "It's important that
we enact this legislation before June 30 to keep the
Health Care Cost Containment Council up and
running."
The measure was sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.
CONTACT: Leigh Ramsey (717) 787-9684
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