[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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