ENROLLED
2020 Second Extraordinary Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 1
BY REPRESENTATIVES ECHOLS AND THOMPSON
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to study the costs and benefits of
setting Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care services at levels that are at
least equal to Medicare rates for those services and to report findings from the study
to the House Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee on Health and
Welfare.
WHEREAS, the term "primary care" refers to routine healthcare services delivered
by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal healthcare
needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of
family and community; this care includes screening, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment
for the purpose of promoting a person's health and detecting and managing a person's disease
or injury; and
WHEREAS, primary care is a vital component of any healthcare system and is
essential for improving and maintaining the health of any population; and
WHEREAS, due to its interconnected problems of poor health outcomes and
extensive health professional shortage areas, Louisiana has an especially pronounced
statewide need for an expansion of primary care; and
WHEREAS, greater access to and utilization of routine primary and preventive care
among members of any population, particularly a medically underserved one, reduces the
population's need for more expensive forms of acute care; and
WHEREAS, due to the measurable effects that expanding access to primary care has
in health outcome improvements and health system cost reductions, an expansion of access
to primary care in Louisiana is both responsible public health policy and sound fiscal policy;
and
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WHEREAS, enhancing healthcare provider reimbursement rates for primary care in
the Louisiana Medicaid program is a direct incentive for increasing the availability of this
much-needed care in our state.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health
to study the costs and benefits of setting Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care
services at levels that are at least equal to Medicare rates for those services.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the benefits to be considered in this study shall
include, without limitation, reductions in net costs of overall care for patients resulting from
enhanced access to and quality of primary care.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Department of Health shall report
findings from the study called for in this Resolution to the House Committee on
Appropriations and the House Committee on Health and Welfare prior to the convening of
the 2021 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Department of Health shall submit
one print copy and one electronic copy of any report produced pursuant to this Resolution
to the David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library as required by R.S. 24:772.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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