Thoughts on Public Education

Tonight we enjoyed a nice VoteShiozawa cottage meeting hosted by Gloria Johnson, in Cottonwood Heights.  We had an engaging discussion with many of her neighbors about a number of topics including last night's Presidential debate.  We also discussed public education and some current concerns. These include large classroom sizes and methods to remedy this.  One obvious solution is to hire more teachers.  However, the cost of implementing this fix would be up to tens of millions of dollars and could be cost prohibitive.  Another concept would be to use a "mid-level provider" much like we do in clinics and hospitals.  For example, many physician practices which are very crowded are using physician assistants (PAs) and Nurse practitioners to increase the number of providers and to increase the accessibility of the clinics to patients.  Patients under this plan have a much better chance of being seen on a timely, even same-day basis.  This has the other advantage of keeping many of them out of the very expensive ER setting.

So, consider doing a similar staffing model in the classroom using teachers aides.  Teachers aides could assist the classroom teacher, who could then both teach and supervise.  The individual students would get valuable and personal interaction, despite the large numbers in the classroom.  This concept would effectively reduce the classroom size and increase the face-to-face interaction with the teacher and the aides. Teachers aides would also be much less expensive to hire and could be specialized to teach important topics like reading, math, language, music and the arts, for example. 

We all recognize the importance of good, quality education. We also know that each year, the number of new students in Utah schools increases by 8,000-12,000.  This is both a blessing and a challenge. How can we handle the increase in students, maintain quality and achieve reasonable classroom size?  This concept of aides is one that we can and should pursue more.

Women's State Legislative Council of Utah

I had a great time at the Canyons District PTA event on Tuesday night at Jordan High School.  It was great to share my passion for public education with others who are concerned about our state's public education system.

My Year in the UMA

Last Friday, I was joined by my wonderful family as I passed the torch of leadership of the Utah Medical Association to its new President, Dr. Brian Hales.  This was a bittersweet experience for me; I will miss my time as President, but I know that Dr. Hales has much to add in this new role.  I think this is an appropriate time for me to reflect on the things we were able to accomplish in the last year.

Here are a couple of legislative highlights:

House Bill:  this legislation which we advocated, was to allow physician offices the right to dispense free samples of medications for up to 30 days or longer, depending on medical necessity.  Previously, DOPL regulations prohibited clinics sending home more than 3 days worth of medications.  We recognize that patients often do not fill their prescriptions due to cost and studies have shown that over half of prescriptions are never filled thus putting the patient in significant danger.  By increasing this sampling time, doctors can  provide free medications, for a significant length of time, to patients who may not be able to afford them.

Another bill dealt with the treatment of cancer patients.  This bill allows oncologists and cancer clinics to treat patients at the time of service at the clinic with specific anti cancer medications provided at cost.  Previously, patients had to leave the clinic and obtain their oncology medications.  Often, patients are very ill from the disease itself or from the side effects of their treatments.  This bill helps patients to obtain these vital medications and then post treatment to go directly to their homes or rehab centers without the delay in getting their medications filled or ordered.

I really liked both of these bills as they truly helped patients.  

SJR 15 was a very important bill that I testified on before the Senate Committee.  In late 2011, a District Court ruling struck down protection of peer review in hospitals.  This ruling created the dangerous potential of limiting the frank and open discussion by physicians and  hospital personnel about patient complaints, injury and system problems. The result would be lack of discussion due to fear of litigation. This bill restored an amendments of the Rules of Civil Procedure, the confidentiality and peer review protection.  This restored the confidential review of cases in order to improve quality care.  Importantly, the bill did not limit the rights of the patient to their records nor inhibit their rights to litigation, if they choose.

Another rewarding role was to be the physician representative on the Utah State Medical Liability Reform Committee.  Chaired by Lt Gov. Bell, this committee has worked with many stakeholders including the trial attorneys, Utah Medical Association, Department of Health, etc. to consider alternatives to current medical liability system which is very problematic.  The current liability system is fraught with adversarial, hugely expensive legal proceedings which does not help the injured patient.  We are studying an early dispute resolution program as an alternative to the traditional tort system.  This program, if adopted would allow patients and physicians to communicate and resolve their disputes sooner and in a much more open and collegial manner.  Similar programs in Michigan have found much lower costs, fairer and quicker dispute resolution;  further, patients retain their ability to opt out to the traditional system if needed.

These are just a few of the legislative highlights of the past year for me.  It was engaging, and rewarding as we successfully advocated for patient care, public health and preserving the doctor patient relationship.

Healthcare Reform is an extremely important issue to me, and I hope to continue to fight for reasonable, bipartisan healthcare reform on Capitol Hill.  

Sign-Drop Blitz

We had a great turnout at our campaign sign-drop event today.  Support is growing and the word is getting out! Find out more about my candidacy at my website and get involved. Let's take this message of practical, bipartisan healthcare reform, support for public schools and small business all the way to Capitol Hill this fall!

Campaign Billboard

Check out our new campaign billboard as you drive north on Highland Drive near 6200 South!

Grassroots Campaign Kickoff

Had a great turnout and great time tonight at our Grassroots Campaign Kickoff at my home.  It is wonderful to have many fantastic supporters and to get the ball rolling throughout the district. Here are some pictures from the event:

Did you see my ad on page 2 of the recent edition of the Valley Journal?

Get Involved!

Had a wonderful fundraiser last week! Many thanks to our many supporters who are helping make the campaign a reality.  

As I've met and talked with more residents of District 8, I'm impressed by the great ideas I'm hearing about needed changes at the state level in education, health care reform, and the need to balance our budget and meet the financial needs of a growing population.  

As a campaign we are going door-to-door and attending public events such as Butlerville Days and the Midvale Harvest Days parade. This is giving me many opportunities to meet and talk with the great residents of this area.  We're enjoying bipartisan support for my solutions to these pressing issues.

I invite you to join with us as we campaign this fall until the election Nov. 6th.  We have many opportunities for you to get involved.  We have a great message and real solutions to the problems Utah faces.  I would love your support!