Tommy Thompson Talk

My family said that I need to share all of this wonderful information with everyone. It will take me a while to write all of my notes down. The first of the totally amazing talks was Tommy Thompson (former Secretary of Health and Human Services, and former Governor of Wisconsin). He spoke about the Healthcare problems in America today he not only talked about what the problems are but what we can do about them. I was impressed that he didn't just get up there and tell us what was wrong he also gave solutions.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS: (recessions) $2.4 trillion each year spent on healthcare 75% of that on chronic healthcare needs
HEALTHCARE WORKERS SHORTAGE: reimbursement for healthcare workers across all specialties and not specific specialties
MEDICARE: the current system will be broke in 2013
WELLNESS = PREVENTION we need to prevent major healthcare needs with annual check up that are paid for to prevent larger problems down the road
MANAGE MEDICATIONS: teach proper medication dosages to avoid duplications or serious side effects
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
· Electronic Medical Records: You can put a ATM card in any machine in the world and get money we need to be able to put a medical id card in at any doctors or hospitals and get all of our history. This will prevent any mistakes from you past history not being filled in fully. This will also prevent unnecessary tests that you may already have the answer too. This would save us millions of dollars a year in unnecessary tests or easily preventable mistakes.
· E-prescribing: 50% of all prescription mistakes are made because of poor handwriting. Sending prescriptions electronically to the patients preferred pharmacy saves mistakes on both ends. This also saves time on the patients end from having to turn in the prescription and wait.
· Paperless Medicaid and Medicare forms: this would save $1.5 billion a year
· Physicals needed to get into Medicare: not preventing individuals from getting in but to establish a record of current treatments and be able to give care for preventable diseases for the individual in the future.
· Lifting restrictions for uninsurable patients to make insurable (will help them be able to get the needed preventative care they need)
FDA: more individuals needed to prove drugs that are currently in the system or possible Phase 4 in trials that put the medication to market in FDA trial phase to try it out for a period of time to ensure more patient safety
FOREIGN POLICY: many 3rd world countries are lacking in medical care. We need to require our interns to do a 4-6 weeks residency in those countries. They will get a better appreciation for the healthcare system here and be better doctors for their experiences.
PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS: get involved in all the campaigns. Ask healthcare questions. In 11 presidential debates this year only one healthcare question was asked start asking our leaders questions.

It isn’t the critic that counts it is the individual in the arena.