Buchanan, Healthy Future Task Force outline updates to improve doctor-patient relationship

Republicans want to improve the patient care experience by allowing providers to focus on patients over paperwork, modernizing processes that delay patient care, and addressing provider shortages through oversight of healthcare workforce programs, according to U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and his fellow co-chair of the Healthy Future Task Force (HFTF). 

The task force released several proposed solutions as part of its plan to strengthen the relationships that patients have with their doctors, according to Rep. Buchanan and U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY). 

“These solutions also aim to make care more individualized, ensure patients have access to the best available providers and continue promoting access to mental health and substance use disorder healthcare services that are increasingly needed following the impact of harmful COVID-19 lockdowns on Americans’ mental health,” the HFTF co-chairs said. “These proposals build upon the Healthy Future Task Force’s work to better serve all patients and help them live healthier and longer lives.”

HFTF Doctor-Patient Relationship Subcommittee Chairman Larry Bucshon (R-IN) and some of his subcommittee colleagues helped develop the proposed solutions, which include removing federal mandates, improving quality metrics on providers, and easing the complexity of Electronic Health Records to ensure the patient stays the main focus of visits, according to a summary of the solutions.

Additionally, the proposed solutions would improve access to quality providers by ensuring investments in graduate medical education are translating into improved care and creating certainty on provider reimbursement, and would grant timely access to care for patients by reforming the prior authorization process, the summary says.

The 17-member HFTF was created by U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to develop such solutions for modernizing the American healthcare system to lower costs, keep Americans healthy, develop better therapies and cures, and provide Americans with more choices.

In addition to the Doctor/Patient Relationship Subcommittee, the HFTF has four other subcommittees: the Treatment Subcommittee, the Security Subcommittee, the Modernization Subcommittee, and the Affordability Subcommittee.