Strengthening Our Health Care Work Force

One of the most common questions we get is about how our health care system will accommodate the 32 million uninsured Americans who are projected to get covered under the Affordable Care Act.  On Tuesday, May 04, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed those concerns in a speech on the future of primary care.

Speaking at a Health Affairs forum, she discussed the unprecedented investments the Obama administration is making to strengthen our health care workforce: from doubling the size of the National Health Service Corps, to helping community health centers serve 23 million additional patients a year, to reducing the unfair imbalance in payments between primary care doctors and specialists.

She also highlighted some examples of the kind of innovative primary care models that will be promoted under the Affordable Care Act like this story about a family she met in Cincinnati:

I was at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital a couple of weeks ago in their outpatient clinic with a mom and her daughter who had some pretty serious health challenges.  She has had these challenges since birth, and the mother was describing how the care she received had changed in just in the last two years.

They do a lot of home testing now.  She can send the results in, and within 30 minutes, she can get an answer back about whether or not they actually need to come in for a visit, or change the medication, or whether it’s just, “Take a deep breath; this will pass.” 

And she said: “this not only gives my husband and me peace of mind.  But it also saves an extraordinary amount of time for the parents and patients.”

In telling this story, Secretary Sebelius underscored what the Affordable Care Act is all about: giving Americans more control over their health care. As we continue to work to implement this new law, that’s a goal we’ll work towards every day.