SALT LAKE CITY— Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful is working on getting a bill through the legislature that would help those with severe disabilities who can’t take care of themselves to move up the list to receive services from the state.

HB242 passed the House and was expected to be heard in the Senate by the end of this week. 

“These services are so important to families,” said Ward. “They get put in misery for life trying to provide care 24-hours a day. They can’t go to work or take care of their other kids.”

These are people who are in a really acute situation, Ward said. “They might be physically abusive to family members or pull their pants down in front of their teenage sister.”

There are 4,500 people on the waiting list. “Some have been on it for many years,” he said. “The bill would bring more people off the waiting list in a more predictable way.”

Ward said they could get 200 people off the list with the base budget. “It isn’t going to solve the problem year over year but each year we’ve done that it’s added $4.5 million. That’s a lot of money. We have to show the cost in the second year the program is running so the fiscal note is for $9 million.”

It’s a big problem and has been for a long time, he said. “These poor families are living in misery. Hopefully we can take care of this.”

Ward is also sponsoring HB239 dealing with a patient’s medical records. “It’s so important,” he said. “If you go to IHC then to another IHC the records will be there but if you go to the U of U from IHC they don’t have your records.”

There might be duplicate tests that cost the patient money, said Ward. “Bad decisions could be made if they don’t know that you have an allergy to medication. We want hospitals to take care of patients in their systems or maybe through a central database to make those records available in real time. It’s too late after they provide a stack of papers three months later.”

The four institutions are IHC, Mountain Star, U of U and Steward Medical, he said. “I know they’re business competitors and they think this is hospital information but it’s the patient’s information. The system is broken. It’s so far past time to be done.”

 HB239 is still making its way through the legislature but was expected to be on the floor this week.