[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 18, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H3482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          USING PATIENT CARE MANAGEMENT TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, eighty percent of health 
care dollars are spent treating chronic illnesses. These are complex 
cases where patients have multiple doctors, treatments, medications and 
tests. Errors can result from confusion and miscommunication, but case 
management can be effective in reducing these errors.
  However, Medicare and Medicaid do not reimburse for patient care 
management. Unnecessary hospitalizations increased from about 1 percent 
for a patient with just one condition to 27 percent for a person with 
eight chronic conditions.
  The Federal Government will pay billions to treat chronic illness 
that could have been prevented. The University of Pittsburgh Medical 
Center found that care management can reduce re-hospitalizations of 
diabetics by 75 percent. Another study reduced hospitalizations of 
patients with heart disease by 50 percent. We cannot continue to 
finance a broken health care system and expect different results.
  We need to transform our health care system to make sure that we 
focus on patient safety, patient quality and patient choice. I urge my 
colleagues to learn more about patient management care programs by 
visiting my Web site at murphy.house.gov.

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