2005 Vermont Code - § 702. — Blueprint for health; strategic plan

§ 702. Blueprint for health; strategic plan

(a) In coordination with the secretary of administration under section 2222a of Title 3, the commissioner of health shall be responsible for the development and implementation of the blueprint for health, including the five-year strategic plan.

(b)(1) The commissioner shall establish an executive committee to advise the commissioner on creating and implementing a strategic plan for the development of the statewide system of chronic care and prevention as described under this section. The executive committee shall consist of no fewer than 10 individuals, including a representative from the department of banking, insurance, securities, and health care administration; the office of Vermont health access; the Vermont medical society; the Vermont program for quality in health care; the Vermont association of hospitals and health systems; two representatives of private health insurers; a consumer; a representative of the complementary and alternative medicine profession; and a primary care professional serving low income or uninsured Vermonters.

(2) The executive committee shall engage a broad range of health care professionals who provide services as defined under section 4080f of Title 18, health insurance plans, professional organizations, community and nonprofit groups, consumers, businesses, school districts, and state and local government in developing and implementing a five-year strategic plan.

(c)(1) The strategic plan shall include:

(A) a description of the Vermont blueprint for health model, which includes general, standard elements established in section 1903a of Title 33, patient self-management, community initiatives, and health system and information technology reform, to be used uniformly statewide by private insurers, third party administrators, and public programs;

(B) a description of prevention programs and how these programs are integrated into communities, with chronic care management, and the blueprint for health model;

(C) a plan to develop and implement reimbursement systems aligned with the goal of managing the care for individuals with or at risk for conditions in order to improve outcomes and the quality of care;

(D) the involvement of public and private groups, health care professionals, insurers, third party administrators, associations, and firms to facilitate and assure the sustainability of a new system of care;

(E) the involvement of community and consumer groups to facilitate and assure the sustainability of health services supporting healthy behaviors and good patient self-management for the prevention and management of chronic conditions;

(F) alignment of any information technology needs with other health care information technology initiatives;

(G) the use and development of outcome measures and reporting requirements, aligned with existing outcome measures within the agency of human services, to assess and evaluate the system of chronic care;

(H) target timelines for inclusion of specific chronic conditions to be included in the chronic care infrastructure and for statewide implementation of the blueprint for health;

(I) identification of resource needs for implementation and sustaining the blueprint for health and strategies to meet the needs; and

(J) a strategy for ensuring statewide participation no later than January 1, 2009 by insurers, third-party administrators, health care professionals, hospitals and other professionals, and consumers in the chronic care management plan, including common outcome measures, best practices and protocols, data reporting requirements, payment methodologies, and other standards.

(2) The strategic plan shall be reviewed biennially and amended as necessary to reflect changes in priorities. Amendments to the plan shall be reported to the general assembly in the report established under subsection (d) of this section.

(d)(1) The commissioner of health shall report annually on the status of implementation of the Vermont blueprint for health to the house committee on health care, the senate committee on health and welfare, the health access oversight committee, and the commission on health care reform. The report shall include the number of participating insurers, health care professionals and patients; the progress for achieving statewide participation in the chronic care management plan, including the measures established under subsection (c) of this section; the expenditures and savings for the period; the results of health care professional and patient satisfaction surveys; the progress toward creation and implementation of privacy and security protocols; and other information as requested by the committees. The surveys shall be developed in collaboration with the executive committee established under subsection (b) of this section.

(2) If statewide participation in the blueprint for health is not achieved by January 1, 2009, the commissioner shall evaluate the blueprint for health and recommend to the general assembly changes necessary to create alternative measures to ensure statewide participation by health insurers, third party administrators, and health care professionals. (Added 2005, No. 191 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)