The Board of Directors of the Public Sector HealthCare Roundtable at its Nov. 30 meeting urged state and local governments to "to become active participants in the national debate over reform of the long-term structure of the nation's system of healthcare."

The "Call to Action" adopted by the board lists five ways in which public employers that provide health care should become involved:

1. quantify the health care services they provide;
2. estimate the costs of those services;
3. describe best practices and cost containment strategies;
4. identify issues unique to public purchasers of health care; and
5. provide the information to elected officials