After hosting just the first of what will be 10 roundtables statewide on health care, state Sen. Tony Lourey said Monday he already feels good about his hunch that Minnesota's focus has to be holistic.
"Where we take into account the entire needs of the individual, not just the clinical side but the mental health, behavioral health, chemical dependency, housing, social services: all the things that bring about health in an individual - and in a community, truthfully," he said, meeting afterward with members of the News Tribune Editorial Board.
Lourey's roundtable at Duluth City Hall Monday was with about 15 representatives of Essentia Health, the University of Minnesota Duluth, Carlton County, St. Louis County, the Human Development Center, and the Lake Superior Community Health Center, and others.
The health leaders embraced his premise, Lourey said.
"There was unanimity of support," he said. "Everyone is pulling in the same direction. ... If we continue just a purely medical approach to delivering health care, it's very difficult to actually get people healthier and provide health for our community. And that was really embraced by the health care players here in Duluth. ...
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"We have some very significant challenges here largely driven by the social determinants of health. And we need to pay attention to that. And that's why it was refreshing to hear unanimity that, 'Yeah, we need to actually break down the silos and work collaboratively together in a team-based approach to bring about health.
"That's a great premise and jumping-off point," Lourey continued. "We had some really good conversations."
And some really good ideas the DFLer from Kerrick plans to take to St. Paul, where he is the ranking member of the Senate Health and Human Services Policy and Finance Committee.
One idea is bringing Minnesota in line with federal patient-privacy laws. Our state is one of only two with standards and requirements more stringent than those handed down from D.C. They're so stringent here that medical facilities and others caring for the same patients have trouble sharing information.
"They want to be able to serve an individual patient and serve that individual patient's needs, but there are very real obstacles," Lourey said. "The other 48 states, they don't have big problems (being able to share information). The additional burdens here, they're not working for our patients and our systems. They're really getting in the way."
Another idea is broadening student-loan forgiveness and other measures to encourage more college students to pursue careers in rural areas, in behavioral health, and in other now-underserved and understaffed health care areas.
"Workforce issues are very real," Lourey said.
The goal of his roundtables, he said, is to generate ideas to improve access and the ability to pay for health care in Minnesota. Politics has made the topic enormously difficult. All the more reason to search for common ground.
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"I'm trying to foster a civil and fact-based conversation, because if we can approach a conversation with civility and facts, there's no problem we can't solve," Lourey said. "The politics around health care have just become so poisoned and disruptive to the lives of consumers and to those who are out there trying to provide care. So I just thought it was really important to get out there and talk."
With the health of Minnesotans statewide hinging on such conversations, talking can be encouraged and embraced statewide - like it was this week here in Duluth.
