Statewide Leadership for Health Care Planning & Improvement

The commission made a policy recommendation in March 2009 that a permanent health care commission be established in statute to address the need for health care system improvement in Alaska, finding that the problem of health care reform is too big and complex to be addressed by a short-term ad-hoc body.  The policy recommendation included language that was subsequently introduced as legislation by Senator Donny Olson as SB 172.  Two other bills are currently pending in the state legislature that would establish a health commission in statute, HB 25 (by Rep. Hawker) and HB 75 (by Rep.s Cissna and Gruenberg).

SB 172

HB 25

HB 75

The two most recent groups convened to address the need for health care reform in Alaska, the Commonwealth North Alaska Health Care Roundtable and the Alaska Health Care Strategies Planning Council, similarly recommended that permanent health planning bodies be established in state statute:

• “Final Report: Summary and Recommendations,” Alaska Health Care Strategies Planning Council, December 23, 2007.
• “Principles, Elements and Specific Steps,” Alaska Health Care Roundtable recommendations, August 29, 2007.
• “Alaska Primary Health Care: Opportunities & Challenges”, Commonwealth North, July 31, 2005.