Louisiana HR 107: HEALTH/CHILDREN: Urges and requests the Louisiana Department of Health to study the feasibility of funding a remote monitoring program for technology-dependent children

Bill Text

ENROLLED
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 107
BY REPRESENTATIVE FREEMAN
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to study the feasibility of funding
a remote monitoring program for technology-dependent children who are
tracheostomy patients.
WHEREAS, over the last ten years, there has been a three hundred to five hundred
percent increase in the use of tracheostomy for home care in children, as estimated by
experts at Children's Hospital of New Orleans; and
WHEREAS, pediatric tracheostomy patients at home face an estimated one percent
per year risk of suffering a sudden death from a tracheostomy complication; and
WHEREAS, there is a twenty percent overall mortality rate related to the global
health condition of patients affected by tracheostomy; and
WHEREAS, although home care for tracheostomy can be supported by home health
nursing, trained pediatric tracheostomy care nurses are exceptionally difficult to find
regardless of insurance status; and
WHEREAS, a remote home monitoring program that allows for continuous
monitoring of patients at home could serve as a means to maintain the health and safety of
technology-dependent children at home without the need of a home health nurse; and
WHEREAS, the use of such technology could significantly reduce the number of
hospitalizations of patients with tracheostomies; and
WHEREAS, the average cost of hospitalization of such patients can cost thousands
of dollars per day; and
WHEREAS, the estimated cost of remote monitoring is two hundred eighty-five
dollars per day; and
WHEREAS, such technology is not only significantly cheaper than hospitalization
but also allows patients to remain at home in the care of loved ones outside of a hospital
setting, while also freeing up needed hospital beds for other patients.
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HR NO. 107 ENROLLED
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health
to study the feasibility of funding a remote monitoring program for technology-dependent
children for tracheostomy.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall develop findings and
recommendations concerning this topic and shall submit these findings and
recommendations in the form of a written report to the House Committee on Health and
Welfare no later than thirty days prior to the convening of the 2024 Regular Session.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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