Key legislators in West Virginia revealed on May 26 that they are undertaking collaborative efforts to fix the state's ailing health care system. The chairmen of the Senate and House health committees have retained Dr. Ken Thorpe, the chairman of the health policy management program at Emory University to provide specific medical reform recommendations.

Thorpe, who spearheaded similar efforts for the state of Vermont in 2006 and 2007, will oversee four working groups that will look at health care delivery, administration and paperwork, technology and electronic medical records, and obesity prevention.

The end product, Thorpe says, will be a new model for delivering better, less-expensive health care. Legislative leaders believe they have formed a rough consensus around the idea of major changes to the state's health care system, and they hope to file resulting legislation next year. At a press conference, both the AFL-CIO and PhRMA endorsed the process.