ENROLLED
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 230
BY REPRESENTATIVE WILLMOTT
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Department of Health and Hospitals to coordinate a study effort
with select healthcare workforce development stakeholders to identify means by
which to enhance access to needed health services in health professional shortage
areas.
WHEREAS, pursuant to authority provided in the Public Health Service Act, the
United States Department of Health and Human Services may officially designate
geographic areas with a pronounced shortage of primary medical care, dental services,
mental health providers, or any combination of these as "health professional shortage areas";
and
WHEREAS, certain population groups, regardless of whether they are associated by
geography, can also be officially designated as health professional shortage areas; and
WHEREAS, in the aggregate and relative to the size of its population, Louisiana
encompasses among the most extensive health professional shortage areas of all U.S. states,
and such areas exist in both rural and urban communities of this state; and
WHEREAS, forty-nine Louisiana parishes are designated in their entirety as health
professional shortage areas, and eight additional parishes are designated partially as such
shortage areas; and
WHEREAS, as evidenced in part by the final adoption and concurrence of House
Concurrent Resolution No. 170 of the 2015 Regular Session and House Concurrent
Resolution No. 22 of this 2016 Regular Session, the legislature has expressed serious
concern regarding the issue of access to health care in this state; and
WHEREAS, the dire effects on health and well-being of the people of this state
resulting from lack of access to health care are self-evident problems; and
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WHEREAS, resolving these problems is an urgent public health priority of this state;
and
WHEREAS, due to the abundance of public health research expertise among staff
in the office of public health of the Department of Health and Hospitals, this office is
uniquely qualified to coordinate a study effort to identify means by which to enhance access
to needed health services in Louisiana's health professional shortage areas.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the office of public health of the
Department of Health and Hospitals to coordinate a study effort to identify means by which
to enhance access to health services in the health professional shortage areas of this state.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study shall include an assessment of the
impact of Medicaid expansion in Louisiana on overall access to health services; as well as
means by which to deliver health care to the newly eligible Medicaid population, currently
estimated to be approximately three hundred thousand persons, in the most efficient and
effective manner.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting the study, the office of public
health may engage, collaborate with, and obtain information and perspective from
organizations with expertise in healthcare workforce development including but not limited
to the following:
(1) The Louisiana Workforce Commission.
(2) The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at New Orleans.
(3) The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport.
(4) The Southern University School of Nursing.
(5) The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners.
(6) The Louisiana State Board of Nursing.
(7) The Louisiana Primary Care Association.
(8) The Louisiana Public Health Institute.
(9) The Louisiana Hospital Association.
(10) The Rural Hospital Coalition.
(11) The Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners.
(12) The Louisiana State Medical Society.
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(13) The Community Provider Association.
(14) The Louisiana Nursing Home Association.
(15) AARP Louisiana.
(16) The Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall provide the findings of the
study requested in this Resolution in the form of a report to the House Committee on Health
and Welfare and the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations no later than thirty
days prior to the convening of the 2017 Regular Session of the Legislature.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, the executive director of Louisiana
Workforce Commission, the chancellor of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences
Center at New Orleans, the chancellor of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences
Center at Shreveport, the dean of the Southern University School of Nursing, the executive
director of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, the executive director of the
Louisiana State Board of Nursing, the executive director of the Louisiana Primary Care
Association, the chief executive officer of the Louisiana Public Health Institute, the president
of the Louisiana Hospital Association, the executive director of the Rural Hospital Coalition,
the president of Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners, the chief executive officer of
the Louisiana State Medical Society, the executive director of the Community Provider
Association, the executive director of the Louisiana Nursing Home Association, the state
director of AARP Louisiana, and the president of the Louisiana Academy of Family
Physicians.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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