NASHVILLE, Tenn. — From the White House to Tennessee’s state house, there has been much talk this week of re-opening the economy.
One of the areas a top Tennessee leader wants to focus on is the healthcare sector.
Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who has long been involved in healthcare policy, outlined in broad strokes what he would like to do earlier this week, but he began his Zoom appearance before the Economic Club of Nashville with a reminder.
“People who do have medical conditions that are urgent or need help like heart attacks or strokes, don’t be afraid to go to emergency rooms,” Sexton told the group. “There are some of those people afraid to go to emergency rooms because they are afraid of catching COVID-19. I think we need to be clear that hospitals are taking all the precautions to protect all patients.”
The speaker has convened his own advisory group on healthcare as hospitals and medical facilities have faced cutbacks.
“As you have heard, several hospitals across the state have furloughed their employees because of the temporary loss of revenue generated by loss of revenue from elective surgeries and other services provided,” said Sexton.
The speaker added he hopes to find ways to speed up payments to hospitals and medical facilities, while also seeing how elective surgeries can happen again soon.
He reminded his virtual audience of the “sacrifices” that still need to be made to re-open the economy and “when we come out of this it will be a different place.”
