I wanted to visit this week about the National Association of Counties legislative conference I attended recently in Washington, D.C.  I think that it is a reasonable expectation  that some sort of communication to the taxpayer follow any kind of conference of this nature.  Not only were there quite a few work sessions and seminars to attend but more importantly there was time to meet with our congressional delegation and advocate on issues important to Sedgwick County.  I felt the conference was productive on several levels.

As I discussed before I left, I was very involved in several issues surrounding health care access, health reform and health departments along with other topics such as veterans services, homelessness,  affordable housing, workforce development and criminal recidivism.  I had a chance to attend lectures and seminars on  these and other current and emerging topics of interest to local units of government during these trying economic times.   There was also quite a bit of dialogue about the ‘stimulus’ package and how that might affect each of these issues. 

The first sub-committee I attended on Saturday concerned health disparities and the fiscal and delivery issues surrounding this complicated and widening  fissure in the health system.  I have not yet digested the volume of handouts and literature I received on the topic.  While Kansas has some issues along these lines, it was apparent that California, Arizona, Florida, Michigan, etc.  were dealing with a much greater problem.  This is an issue that we have been analyzing through our work groups for the last couple of years.  Progress has been slow but steady.  Fortunately, we are not at critical mass like so many communities.

The second sub-committee dealt with Public Health and the Environment.  With all the conversation about rising costs of medical care and constriction to access and insurance coverage, the Public Health dialogue was heightened.  Public Health services in the area of education and prevention has certainly moved to the forefront in many conversations.  Every local jurisdiction represented were re-visiting and working to strengthen the role of the public health system in the overall continuum of wellness that is part of the solution to rising costs of chronic disease, declining coverage and the rising number of un-insured.

On Sunday, I attended sessions on Medicaid and Indigent Care along with a sub-committee on Long Term Care.   Both were eye opening and informative.  Invited speakers discussed openly the difficulties that these issues infuse into the overall solution to the delivery of care to the most vulnerable in our society.  I was particularly interested in indigent care since that was a offshoot topic from all the meetings I attended as part of the Homeless task force.   A latter session I attend on veterans issues tied in well with this conversation.   The Long term care session also gave me food for thought.  It is interesting that I received several emails from citizens that read my column before I left concerning  long term care and the impact on their families.  

The final meeting I attended on health care was the National Association of Counties Health Steering committee.  This was a three plus hour session that covered a host of topics.  We got a presentation on a program called ‘Healthy Howard’, Howard County, Maryland’s program to provide some sort of health care to the citizens in their jurisdiction that did not have insurance coverage or Medicaid eligibility.  We also learned about a NACO program called Network of Care.  There was open dialogue on proposed policy resolutions and an update on national health policy from Dr. Wendell Primus, a senior policy advisor for budget and health for the House of Representatives.

I attended several workshops but I will not go into great detail on them this week.  I need more time to review my notes and to complete my own follow up before I report on what I learned.  I have sent emails to several individuals to pass on information or share new thoughts on emerging issues.  

I hope this gives you a flavor of what I did in DC and what I learned.  I also had a chance to meet with several of our national elected officials or staff.  I will discuss the substance of those conversations in a later writing.