For a while, it wasn't hard to figure out what health care reforms Gov. Bill Richardson wanted to make in New Mexico.

Richardson in 2008 called a special session in part to get the state's 400,000 residents without coverage insured. However, support for that goal waned in the face of declining state revenues, uncertainty over federal action and other factors. The session ended with a plan to cover about 17,000 kids.

Now, the governor keeps his reform ideas much closer to his vest.

He has proposals in mind for the 2010 legislative session, his office said Monday, but it wouldn't discuss details.

"The governor will introduce several health care reform initiatives during the regular session," spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in an e-mail. "It is too soon to discuss specifics, other than to say we are obviously keeping a close eye on the national debate."

Others are talking more openly about their ideas.

Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, said many lawmakers are watching to see what happens with the debate over reform in Congress but are working in the interim on some reforms, including the implementation of an electronic medical records bill that was approved earlier this year.

"I think you'll find we're focusing more on quality of health care and the work force rather than expanding insurance programs because we just don't have the money," said Feldman, a member of the White House Working Group of State Legislators for Health Care Reform.

Feldman said members of the state's Legislative Health and Human Services Committee have been working on proposals for 2010 regarding how the state can boost its ranks of key health care professionals by using federal economic stimulus money.

"We're focusing on how to get more primary care providers in rural areas and everywhere because that's what really is the key to better care at a reduced cost," she said.

At the same time, Feldman wants the state to be "Obama ready" for any changes the federal government does make.

"We have to see what the feds are doing in order to fit our efforts to theirs," she said. "It looks like all of the proposals on reform will carry funding for the first couple years, but after that it may be up to the states to provide not just the match but additional funding if there are expansions."

The leader of the health care reform advocacy group Health Action New Mexico said the push for reform at the state level is still alive, but it's too early to know specific proposals for the 2010 legislative session.

Barbara Webber, a senior analyst at the New Mexico Health Policy Commission who started Monday as the group's executive director, said the group will wait to see what, if anything, Congress approves.

"There's always an issue of making sure changes are implemented in New Mexico, partly given that we have such a large population that is uninsured and so many who are dependent on Medicaid," Webber said.

The group in the past has pushed for an independent authority that would oversee the changes in the state's health care, among other things.

In the immediate future — for the special session on the budget slated for this fall — Webber said the group will also keep an eye out for cuts to Medicaid and other programs.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.