Press Room

Time for a Check Up!

Wednesday, August 11 2010

New Legislation will Check up on Surgical Techs and Check Health Care Cost

DENVER—    The Colorado legislature worked hard and made tough choices this past session to make sure the health care system in Colorado is affordable, accessible, and effective.  It’s now time for citizens to reap the benefits as two of these measures, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader John Morse (D-Colorado Springs), when they take effect today Wednesday, August 11, 2010. House Bill 1415 will ensure that health care is not just solvent but also safe for patients. This bill will require all surgical technicians to register the state which will prohibits individuals with criminal pasts or history of drug abuse from obtaining a license.

The legislation was introduced by Senator Morse in response to recent case of a surgical technician who exposed over 6,000 patients to hepatitis C by stealing syringes of painkillers to use on herself and then returning them for use in patient care.  Over 18 people have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C as a result.

“Considering the access that surgical technicians have to prescription drugs and their high level of responsibility for patient care it’s surprising that they haven’t already been asked to obtain licenses and submit to background checks,” stated Senator Morse. “This bill ensures that patients are in safe hands in our hospitals and that administrators know who they are hiring.”

House Bill 1330 is also set to take effect next week.  This legislation will empower patients and strengthen the health care system by creating a unified database of information for all healthcare transactions in Colorado. Currently, health care data is hard to come by and even harder to interpret.  HB 1330 will charge the Center for Improving Value in Health Care with establishing a data collection system to gather and unify health care information in the state to bring down everyone’s health care costs. 

This database will be a starting point in making the system more transparent and cost effective. Having all the information in one place will allow consumers, businesses and policy makers to make “apples to apples” comparisons to fairly assess the current state of the health care system.

“Health care has a long way to go yet, but these kinds of smart and efficient measures take us in the right direction towards a system that is effective and inexpensive,” stated Senator Morse. “I’m eager to see what positive changes occur as a result of this bill.”

HB 1415 was sponsored by Representative Sara Gagliardi (D-Arvada) in the House.  HB 1330 was sponsored by Rep. John Kefalas (D-Fort Collins) and Rep. Daniel Kagan (D-Englewood) in the House.