HEALTHCARE

Our State and our nation are on the verge of a healthcare crisis. This crisis stems from a perfect storm of costs that have been increasing 2% faster than inflation for the last 30 years; declining employer provided healthcare plans; and a tidal wave of baby boomers about to go onto Medicare.

While this “storm” may seem overwhelming, my experience on the Board at the Good Samaritan Hospital has shown that dramatic progress can be achieved. A mere two years ago, the hospital faced poor financial returns, low staff morale, an inadequate facility, and a poor reputation in the community. With a vision for the future, strong leadership, and the will to change, we have made amazing progress. Today, we are serving more of our citizens than ever before, with improved morale, and vastly improved financial results. Furthermore, we are re-investing, having recently broken ground on a new $400 million patient tower. We still have much to do to provide the healthcare we want for our community.

At the State-level, the Democrat solution to healthcare’s challenges is a government mandated and tax-payer funded universal healthcare program. The 2008 legislature considered bills with this goal. While they did not pass this session – if we don’t change the makeup of our government, they likely will next session.

Alternatively, we need to focus sharply and systemically on the reducing costs in the system and improving quality of care. This can be done by focusing all our hospitals on reducing common incidents that dramatically increase the cost of hospitalization. Examples of this type opportunity include infections caused by surgery and pneumonia caused by the use of ventilators. We also need to implement tort reform – applying a negligence standard to medical cases. Encouraging the use of living wills can reduce the hugely expensive but often futile measures employed at the end of life. Currently 1% of our population uses 35% of the medial care.

Next, we need to work hard to promote healthy lifestyles and preventative care. Currently, the Emergency Room is the only source of healthcare for far too many people. This is both expensive and of limited effectiveness. We have to get those folks into more appropriate providers. Furthermore, many of the chronic diseases, like high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease, are dramatically affected by lifestyle choices. We must find ways to encourage better choices.

Lastly, we need to re-evaluate our State-set Medicaid reimbursement schedule and re-orient it to provide more data-based healthcare - yielding higher quality with reduced cost.