There are people who say you’re the wrong man for this job. I am undecided on this. You’re famous for your hatred of complicated solutions. They annoy you. They annoy you because you know they’re a waste of time and energy. Time and energy that can be put into more important things.
May 1st, the Washington State Department of Health will rule on the Certificate of Need (CON); whether or not CHI closes hospital operations in Bremerton and moves all services to Silverdale. CHI will invest $680 million to expand campus size and build a state-of-the-art facility; they will save $9 million annually in improved efficiency. It will take just 75.5 years to recoup the cost.
An article published in Health Affairs found seven of the nation’s 10 most profitable hospitals were of the non-profit variety, each earning more than $163 million from patient care services. Revoking their property tax-exempt status for not functioning as a charitable entity could return billions in healthcare dollars to local government, communities, and citizens, struggling to afford quality health care.
As an independent physician in private practice, I care a great deal about our people, our patients, and healthcare delivery in Kitsap County. The fact hospital consolidations do not economically benefit patients is backed by a mountain of scientific evidence. While those in charge may decide merging is ultimately the best course of action, it will be imperative we stand up as a unified community and hold CHI accountable for ensuring the cost savings they have promised materialize.
Studies continually show small clinics provide better quality care for lower cost, have fewer hospital admissions, and keep patients healthier than the hospital-based clinics. We must eliminate the onerous facility fee to level the playing field, eliminate the incentive for hospitals to create monopolies, and save Americans 100s of billions of dollars per year.
U.S. Healthcare needs a revolution; ‘the shot heard round the world’ frequently refers to the opening shots of the American Revolution in 1775. The Big Pharma lobby is holding the American people hostage with their exorbitant ransom demands. Last summer, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, led by CEO Heather Bresch, overplayed their hand. Mylan came under fire for a 400% price increase in the EpiPen two-pack. This device is considered life-saving for children and adults with anaphylactic reactions to various food, insect, or environmental insults. Ms. Bresch insisted the significant price increase ($600-$700 for a medication which costs pennies) was justified due to the more ergonomic appearance of the delivery device and improved safety profile.
Health policy experts, IT executives, and politicians jumped on the ACA, HITECH, and MACRA bandwagon while clinging tightly to their misguided belief that more electronic records, ACO’s, care coordinators, administrators, pay for performance schemes, and other fads or gimmicks would improve health outcomes; it turns out one of the most fundamental measures of healthcare quality, our life expectancy, is no better than before.
Choice for all of us has evaporated from the system in many small rural areas suffering from physician shortages already. Frustration at the overwhelming increases in insurance premiums is palpable everywhere in this country. Maybe it is time to give Dr. Price and Seema Verma a chance. There will be many compromises as in all things, but allowing physicians and patients more control over their lives and livelihoods is a revolution worth celebrating.
On November 8th America elected a President who ran on the promise to restore government of the people, by the people, for the people (among other things). However, we cannot expect such (continue reading →)
The world is not going to end. We witnessed a revolution earlier this week. The people have spoken and they chose the anti-establishment, street smart, government shrinking candidate who bucks the status (continue reading →)
