Senator Warner joined his freshman colleagues on the Senate floor today to discuss ways to improve the way health care is delivered. It is the sixth time the freshmen have organized to speak-out on the need to adopt meaningful, responsible health reform that cuts costs and reduces the federal deficit.
Today, Senator Warner shared several examples from Virginia about how coordinated care can reform the system's current financial incentives for doctors and hospitals.
In Richmond, the VCU Health System's Coordinated Care program assigns primary care physicians to the uninsured, reducing the number of costly emergency room visits.
In Roanoke, Carilion established an accountable care organization that rewards providers for improving patient outcomes and encourages physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, and the government to work together and practice preventative care to reduce patient visits and costs in the long-run.
Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk makes extensive use of telemedicine and other technology to monitor patient care at lower cost.
"As long as our health care system continues to reward providers simply based on quantity rather than quality of care, we are never going to get health care reform right. By increasing coordination of care, and putting in place smarter financial incentives, we can have higher quality care at lower costs."
Watch the statement below, or click here to read his remarks:
Senator Warner spoke on the floor today to promote his bill creating a strong, independent council to regulate institutions from becoming "too big to fail," or so complex that its failure might undermine the financial system.
On Sunday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published an op-ed written by Senator Warner discussing his proposal to increase access to credit by small businesses by pooling unspent funds in the TARP program with loan funds from local and community banks.
Senator Warner joined his colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee today to discuss Chairman Chris Dodd's proposed financial reform legislation, which includes several of Senator Warner's reform ideas, including the creation of a systemic risk council and a single federal banking regulator.
Yesterday, the Senate passed S.1407, the military construction and Veterans Administration appropriations bill, which included two amendments submitted by Senator Warner:
During a small business conference hosted by the Treasury Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration today, Senator Warner urged the administration, Congress, and banks to work quickly to boost lending to small businesses still facing very challenging credit conditions.