Friends,
We're now over a month into session and I have been hard at work to introduce bills to help our community and the state as a whole. Here's a quick update about three of them all centered on tackling health care costs & the effectiveness of treatments as well as an update on the MNLARS mess. Have a great weekend!
My Bills
It is long overdue for Minnesota to take leadership in mainstreaming Pharmacogenomics, or the easier to remember Precision Medicine. This is not just saving money by avoiding problematic medications for a person, but providing better care with quicker results. It is basically doing a few dozen tests to find out how you as an individual will react to medications. I have been working with people at Mayo and the U of M for several years, and have drafted three bills:
- HF 1023 - Pharmacogenomics information central repository
- HF 1047 - Pharmacogenomics grant program established
- HF 1048 - Pharmacogenomics task force established
They are to augment the current activities of the Grand Challenges Phase III initiative entitled “Toward Pharmacogenomics-Enabled Health care at Statewide Scale: Implementing Precision Medicine,” which was selected for funding by the University of Minnesota. Minnesota should be leveraging what the Mayo Clinic, U of MN, and other medical leaders in MN have been and are doing to mainstream this cutting edge innovation to health care. Beside providing profound results for patients, it is a key to avoiding pharmaceutical and other medical costs.
MNLARS Funding Request & Audit
Last week, Governor Walz requested $15.7 million to help to clean up the MNLARS mess that has made it such a headache for Minnesotans going to the DMV for services. The problem is this request for almost $16 million comes without any plan to fix the MNLARS or details in how the appropriation would be used. Even worse, there was no similar request to make the deputy registrars whole from the harm they have suffered during the entire MNLARS mess. Fortunately, a bill was heard this week in the Transportation Finance/Policy Division on Tuesday to provide reimbursement for deputy registrars.
Minnesotans deserve a licensing system that works, but Minnesotans deserve to see a detailed plan on what improvements we can expect before we put one more penny into MNLARS. In addition, any plan to fund this disastrous government boondoggle must include relief for our deputy registrars who have suffered financial losses and countless headaches because of the failures of MNLARS.
On Thursday, the Legislative Audit Commission, which I have been a member of for years, met to review a long-awaited Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) report titled Factors That Contributed to MNLARS Problems. Studying and learning from this report should help us to make sure we avoid preventable IT mistakes like MNLARS in the future.
Contact Me
Please continue to stay in touch to share your thoughts and ideas on issues important to you. You can schedule a time to meet with me in my office anytime by calling (651) 296-9236, or share your thoughts via email by emailing me at rep.duane.quam@house.mn
Have a great weekend,
Duane