[HealthCareForAllColorado] Notes on 208 Commission Outreach/Communications Committee meeting Feb. 16

[Carolyn L Taylor]

  Dear HCAC N CO Chapter members and friends,

  A few weeks ago you were asked to send comments about the criteria used by
the 208 Commission for selecting health care reform proposals.
  Michele Swenson, Board of Directors member, HCAC Denver/Boulder, attended
the meeting of the 208 Commission's Committee on Outreach & Communication.
It was reported that a
  total of 37 comments were submitted  Please note that the comments are
posted at www.colorado.gov/208commission.   Click on "Activities", Click on
"Commission Meetings" in left column,
  click on "Full Text of All Comments Read During Opportunity to..."

   Here is Michelle's report on that meeting:

  Meeting of Committee on Outreach & Communication, Commission for Health
Care Reform
  Feb. 16, 2007

  Present: Elisabeth Arenales, Ralph Pollock, Clarke Becker, Grant Jones,
Mark Simon, & Steve ErkenBrack (by phone); Anita Wesley, staff

  Steve ErkenBrach reported that when he was in Washington he visited with
office staff of Ken Salazar, Wayne Allard, John Salazar & Mark Udall. He
indicated that Allard’s office offered legislation (though it is not clear
to me what kind of related legislation could come from the federal level).
Mark Simon reported meeting with Marcy Morrison (Ritter’s new insurance
commissioner), Ken Gordon & Alice Madden. Madden wants to invite former
Oregon Gov. Kitzolver to make a presentation on the Oregon Archimedes
Project. Staff from Morrison’s office warned the Commission & others not to
create "false expectations" around reform. One-page summaries of Commission
meetings are to be provided biweekly to legislators & posted on website.

  Elisabeth Arenales reported that the responses on the website to the
criteria for solicitation for proposals were "gratifying" & "productive."
She reported there were 26 comments directly related to the criteria, and
another 11 more general comments. The comments and the draft proposal are
supposed to be posted by this weekend on the Commission website
www.colorado.gov/208commission . One comment that Arenales noted was that
the general cost of creating a proposal is $200,000, and that the ability to
present proposals should not be limited by the money that a person/group has
available.

  With November 30 as the deadline for the Commission’s work, the timeline
for public congressional district hearings is shrinking (if an extension to
January 2008 is obtained, it will expand a little). Now the timeline shows
selected proposals sent for evaluation in April, with results in October.
Elisabeth noted that there are 3 iterations of any proposal sent for
evaluation, and she is trying to figure out an earlier time for public
hearings, perhaps after the 1st or 2nd iteration of proposals, so they can
get feedback to the modelers of proposals. Elisabeth spoke of building a
lead proposal after the first iteration by evaluators (the 1st three months
of evaluation consist of building a model for Colorado).

  Mark Simon emphasized that the CD hearings require input on 3-5 proposals,
not just a lead proposal. Because the 3rd & 4th congressional districts are
so large & spread out, the thought is that there should be at least 2 CD
hearings around these districts. Elisabeth is among those working to set up
a couple of public meetings in March for public input regarding the
criteria - e.g., now the criteria are not weighted - what values or
priorities do people assign to the criteria. The thought is to have a
teleconferencing meeting linking Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Alamosa &
either Greeley or Ft. Collins on Saturday, March 24 from 9a.m.- 12:30p.m.,
with at least one commissioner present at each location. A separate meeting
in Denver would be held on March 22 possibly from 4-7pm. At the first
meeting, Denver would be tied in, but just listening; at the 2nd meeting,
Denver would be commenting, others listening. Elisabeth spoke of another
round of public meetings possibly in late April, early May, after proposals
have been posted on website. The next discussion will be how to get turnout.

  A full commission meeting Wednesday, Feb. 21 will consider the final draft
of the RFP, to be released Feb. 22.

  The next meeting of the Outreach & Communications Committee will be
Friday, Feb. 23 by phone; call-in information will be posted on the
Commission website.

  Michele Swenson
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