0001|                       HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 39
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0002|     43RD LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - SECOND SESSION, 1998
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0003|                            INTRODUCED BY
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0004|                          DEBBIE A. RODELLA
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0005|     
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0006|                                   
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0007|     
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0008|     
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0009|     
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0010|                           A JOINT MEMORIAL
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0011|     REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
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0012|     AND ADMINISTRATION, THE CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES
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0013|     DEPARTMENT AND THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT TO SUPPORT
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0014|     ARRIBACARE.
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0015|     
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0016|          WHEREAS, the rate of uninsured persons in the county of
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0017|     Rio Arriba is estimated to be as high as fifty percent; and
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0018|          WHEREAS, the transition to medicaid managed care creates
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0019|     a further strain on Rio Arriba's rural clinics, possibly
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0020|     removing money which has subsidized health care for the
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0021|     uninsured working poor; and
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0022|          WHEREAS, the confluence of these factors threatens to
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0023|     cause the collapse of Rio Arriba's only existing primary care
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0024|     infrastructure in rural areas; and
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0025|          WHEREAS, lack of access to services due to lack of health
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0001|     insurance increases hospital debt and costs by encouraging
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0002|     inappropriate use of the emergency room and by inhibiting the
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0003|     timely diagnosis and management of preventable conditions such
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0004|     as diabetes; and
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0005|          WHEREAS, the estimated demand for primary care encounters
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0006|     in January of 1996 in Rio Arriba county was ninety-eight
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0007|     thousand eight hundred eighty-nine compared to an actual
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0008|     supply of encounters of ninety thousand six hundred,
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0009|     necessitating the addition of an extra six physicians to meet
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0010|     the demand; since many private physicians do not accept
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0011|     medicaid, creation of a private insurance for the medically
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0012|     indigent would boost the supply of available encounters to
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0013|     meet the demand; and
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0014|          WHEREAS, the incidence of deaths of men and women in Rio
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0015|     Arriba county attributed to homicide leads the state at over
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0016|     three times the statewide rate, and much of the violence is a
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0017|     symptom of pandemic substance abuse, and Rio Arriba ranks
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0018|     third among New Mexico counties in deaths of men from alcohol-
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0019|     related accidents and fourth in suicide; and
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0020|          WHEREAS, the plan for ArribaCare calls for the
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0021|     integration of substance abuse treatment by training
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0022|     physicians to do early risk assessment, by assigning treatment
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0023|     patients a primary care provider and by increasing
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0024|     communication between treatment facilities and primary care
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0025|     providers and financing appropriate treatment through
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0001|     insurance coverage; and
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0002|          WHEREAS, the ArribaCare might address and potentially
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0003|     solve many issues of managed care in Rio Arriba county and
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0004|     serve as a model for the state;
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0005|          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
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0006|     STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of health, the
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0007|     children, youth and families department, the human services
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0008|     department and the department of finance and administration be
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0009|     requested to evaluate ArribaCare as a pilot for a model
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0010|     statewide, and support the county of Rio Arriba with technical
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0011|     and financial support; and
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0012|          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
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0013|     transmitted to the secretaries of health; children, youth and
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0014|     families; human services; and finance and administration.
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0015|                              
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