[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 55 (Monday, May 9, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 69--RELATING TO POISON CONTROL CENTERS

  Mr. METZENBAUM submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
was ordered held at the desk:

                            S. Con. Res. 69

       Whereas poisoning remains a significant public health 
     problem in the United States, especially for children;
       Whereas, in 1991 alone, more than 13,000 persons died in 
     the United States due to poisoning, including approximately 
     6,400 persons who died from unintentional poisoning;
       Whereas 60 percent of the 2,400,000 poison exposure cases 
     reported to poison control centers in 1992 involved children 
     younger than 6 years of age;
       Whereas poison control centers saves lives by providing 
     free first-aid advice over the telephone to poison victims, 
     health care professionals, and frightened parents of poisoned 
     children;
       Whereas physicians, hospitals, public health departments, 
     and the public depend on poison control centers to provide 
     indispensable emergency advice and treatment information for 
     poisonings, and to be available 24 hours during each day of 
     the year;
       Whereas no other community health care service has the 
     facilities and expertise to monitor the hundreds of thousands 
     of consumer products with which children are unintentionally 
     poisoned every day, or to provide the proper antidote advice 
     when a person has been exposed to such consumer products;
       Whereas poison control centers across the country are 
     closing or drastically reducing the services they provide, 
     due to misguided attempts by hospitals and States to save 
     money;
       Whereas approximately \1/2\ of the 38 poison control 
     centers in the Nation that meet national standards are in 
     financial jeopardy, and lack of funding has caused some 
     poison control centers to stop answering some emergency 
     telephone calls;
       Whereas many hospitals have stopped funding poison control 
     centers because of funding constraints and because most 
     poison control centers serve a wider geographic area than is 
     served by any 1 hospital;
       Whereas closing poison control centers increases the cost 
     of health care, and needlessly places the lives of millions 
     of children at risk;
       Whereas poison control centers are cost efficient and 
     economical because over 70 percent of the cases assisted by 
     poison centers are resolved over the telephone while the 
     patient is in the patient's own home, which avoids 
     unnecessary emergency room visits, ambulance use, and 
     hospital admissions;
       Whereas every $1.00 spent on poison control centers saves 
     at least $7.75 in health care costs;
       Whereas, if poison control centers were not available, 
     600,000 additional poisoning victims would be unnecessarily 
     treated in hospitals each year, at a much higher cost than 
     the cost of assistance by a poison control center;
       Whereas health care for Americans will cost $545,000,000 
     less each year if access to quality poison control centers is 
     provided to all Americans than if no such access is provided, 
     even after the costs of providing poison control center 
     services are considered; and
       Whereas Federal leadership in the funding plight of the 
     Nation's poison control centers has been nonexistent: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) any legislation that is enacted to provide for national 
     health care reform should contain provisions that ensure that 
     qualified poison control centers that meet national standards 
     and are certified by the American Association of Poison 
     Control Centers are fairly and adequately compensated by 
     means that may include--
       (A) a fee for service mechanism under which each health 
     benefit plan would pay a fee for each service rendered by a 
     poison control center to a member of the plan;
       (B) a per capita mechanism, under which each health benefit 
     plan would pay a negotiated or predetermined amount, based on 
     the number of members in the plan or the amount of poison 
     control center services used by members of the plan in the 
     past, to support poison control centers; or
       (C) an expanded public health program, including a program 
     of Federal or State matching grants; and
       (2) a national commission should be established, under the 
     auspices of the Public Health Service or in any other 
     appropriate format, to study the delivery and funding of 
     poison control services, including--
       (A) means to maximize the use of information technologies 
     in the delivery of poison control services; and
       (B) possible use of a nationwide, toll-free telephone 
     number as a means for the public to receive poison control 
     services.

  Mr. METZENBAUM. Mr. President, every year hundreds of thousands of 
parents call the Nation's poison centers for help to save their 
children's lives. In 1992 alone, 60 percent of the 2,400,000 cases 
reported to poison control centers were for children younger than 6 
years old. Frantic families got help faster from the poison control 
centers than they could get it from an emergency room and at much less 
cost.
  Every dollar spent on the Nation's poison control centers saves at 
least $7.75 in health care costs. If poison control centers were not 
available, 600,000 additional poisoning victims would be unnecessarily 
treated in hospitals each year--at a much higher cost than the cost of 
a lifesaving call to the poison center. Yet many of the Nation's 38 
poison centers are in financial danger--the center here in the 
Washington area is closing and many others are closing or drastically 
reducing their hours or coverage or are even forced to refuse to take 
calls from certain areas. The problem is shortsighted budget cutting by 
hospitals and State and local governments.
  Most of you have seen the news reports showing grateful parents with 
healthy children beside them--children who might otherwise have died 
without the swift, sure help of the poison centers. One news program, 
the Crusaders, actually contacted corporations and started a bumper 
sticker campaign to raise money to try to keep these centers open.
  The response, I understand, has been heart warming but, at best it is 
an emergency stopgap action that may help some centers stay open for a 
while.
  Mr. President, we need all of these centers nationwide to stay open 
and available 24 hours a day. It is in the national interest both to 
protect the lives of millions of Americans and to protect our health 
care system against the cost of unnecessary emergency room visits.
  Mr. President, funding for the Nation's poison control centers should 
be a part of health care reform. The money it costs to run the poison 
control centers is a fraction of what it will cost us if we don't run 
them. Without the Nation's poison centers, the cost to evaluate and 
treat poison victims will rise $545 million.
  Therefore I am introducing a resolution stating it is the sense of 
the Congress that poison centers should be funded as a part of health 
care reform. It outlines ways in which the program can be easily and 
adequately funded. The identical resolution has already been introduced 
by Representative Towns in the House.

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