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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. James E. Casorio, Jr. |
  
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Committee OKs extension of important health care cost-saving agency
HARRISBURG, June 25 – State Rep. James E. Casorio Jr., D-Westmoreland, said the House Insurance Committee has approved a bill that would reauthorize for an additional 10 years a state agency that has improved the quality and reduced the rising cost of health care in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, known as PHC4, was created by the General Assembly 20 years ago to analyze the cost and quality of health care statewide, study access to care for the uninsured and recommend improvements to health insurance coverage.
"Without the work of PHC4, many of the significant insurance and health-care reforms that have been made during the past two decades in Pennsylvania – both by government and by the industry itself – would not have happened," said Casorio, who is a member of the Insurance Committee and a co-sponsor of the legislation. "Pennsylvania is now a leader in the collection and use of health-care data to improve quality and lower costs. It is important for us to make sure PHC4 is able to continue its work in the future."
Without passage of the new legislation (H.B. 2648), PHC4 will go out of business this year. The bill would reauthorize the agency until 2018, and also create a committee to study how the agency does its job and to recommend improvements. The committee would have to provide a report to the House and Senate by April 30, 2009, recommending changes to the PHC4 law. The bill also calls for PHC4 to make Medicare reimbursement rates for common health-care procedures available to the general public on the Internet.
Casorio said the most recent illustration of the importance and effectiveness of PHC4's work was the recent reform measures the General Assembly passed designed to reduce rates of hospital acquired infections in Pennsylvania, which will dramatically reduce costs. The legislation was passed and signed into law after groundbreaking analysis of the problem by PHC4.
PHC4’s studies and analyses have also helped the public understand pricing and cost structure in the health insurance market, and helped government leaders develop policy for reforming the insurance market and helping to cover the state's uninsured residents.
"Along with passing the budget, reauthorizing this important agency is really something the General Assembly must do," Casorio said. "PHC4 and its work are important for maintaining health-care quality and keeping health-care costs down."
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