New York, the highest taxed and highest regulated state in the nation, is not making life any easier for those who need medical care, whether it is a cleaning at your dentist”™s office or major cardiac surgery.
That was the opinion of three of the Hudson Valley”™s largest hospital systems ”“ Orange Regional Medical Center, Bon Secours Charity Health Care System and St. Luke”™s-Cornwall Hospital. Their respective CEOs brought the public up to speed about the challenges of making health care not just affordable, but accessible, as the region continues to grow but money to fund programs continues to shrink.
Scott Batulis of Orange Regional, Allan Atzrott of St. Luke”™s-Cornwall and new president and CEO of the Bon Secours system, Terry O”™Brien, joined Neil Abitabilo, president and CEO of Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association at a sold-out breakfast held by the Orange County Chamber of Commerce at Newburgh”™s Ramada Inn on April 21.
NORMET”™S seven county, 32-member hospital association is facing tremendous pressure on both the state and federal levels, not only from the gross receipts tax now imposed upon the providers by the state”™s new budget, but the failure of both Medicaid and Medicare to reimburse hospitals for services rendered.
“The result,” said Abitabilo, “is health care is at a critical crossroads, facing yet another potential hit with the MTA tax of a combined $30 million and another $30 million from the gross receipts tax under the new budget.”
The CEOs, whose network of Rockland and Orange hospitals employ a combined 6,200 workers, from file clerks to doctors, say more must be done to assure residents that needed services are available right here at home.
“Despite all the advances we have made and offer in the region, we still see residents flocking to hospitals in New York City,” Atzrott said. “There”™s a tremendous need for our communities to support our local hospitals. Good Samaritan in Suffern (part of Bon Secours”™ system) has one of the best heart-care surgeons in the country and has had some of the best outcomes reported in the state, yet people are still willing to go south for treatment.”
Atzrott asked the business audience not to take its regional hospitals for granted. “We”™re in an economic tsunami…Westchester Medical Center just laid off 500 people to bring their deficit down to $7 million. What”™s next?”
Batulis is as concerned about the rising cost of health care and the reimbursement challenges faced by the region”™s hospitals, but said hospitals will learn to keep up their level of services and work with less, because of the dedication of staff.
“Despite the challenges, we”™ve had an excellent year. We are building the first new hospital the state has seen in 30 years … that could not have happened without the support of the community and the state”™s efforts. We received over $17 million in funds from the community, despite the economy.” ORMC also oversees the daily operations at Catskill Regional Medical Center in Sullivan County.
O”™Brien, former president and CEO of Manhattan”™s Lenox Hill Hospital, was hired by Bon Secours Charity Health System “to try to turn the hospitals”™ health care system around. So far, we”™ve gotten our $30 million deficit down to $3 million,” said O”™Brien, who was hired in February. “We had to make cuts and reduce staff. We are looking at closing our mental health facility, as St. Luke”™s was forced to do, because the program is costing $1,000 a day and we are being reimbursed $700 a day. It”™s just not sustainable. It”™s a tremendous loss to the community, but until hospitals get reimbursement rates that make these programs sustain themselves, we just can”™t keep up.”
O”™Brien, who lives in Westchester, does the reverse commute each day to Suffern and says many of the Thruway”™s southbound travelers aren”™t heading to just to jobs, “They are also going into Manhattan to have procedures done. Many residents in Orange and Rockland counties are going into the city, even though we are more than capable of providing the same services right here. Good Samaritan”™s new cardiac care center is a $25 million investment in the community. If we can capture 50 percent of the market that is now traveling out of the area for service, it would benefit the people who live and work here. We need to work together as a region to keep our hospitals strong;Â yes, to some extent, we are competitive with each other, but the common goal is to see people in the Hudson Valley to look for services in their own communities ”“ those services are here.”
The CEOs agree the state”™s new budget trimmed back some of the cuts, but didn”™t do enough when it came to helping out the health care industry; and despite the rhetoric, the federal government has been trying to streamline Medicare since it was first introduced 40 years ago.
“Right now, we have 40 million Americans on Medicare and another 40 million who are uninsured,” said Abitabilo. “The fact that it costs so much to go to the emergency room is because most people don”™t pay. There are 280 companies negotiating rates and deciding reimbursements. We need to restructure and consolidate the system. Even though we are the 49th worst state when it comes to profitability, we have a great health care system that is in desperate need of reform.”
Cher Singh of Crystal Run Village in Middletown, a non-profit agency serving the disabled, asked the CEOs about the possibility of any of their facilities becoming teaching hospitals. While all would love to see it happen, they agreed that graduate medical education is in more jeopardy than most people realize.
“The days when a graduate education program was profitable are over,” said Abitabilo. Batulis hopes the new ORMC, scheduled to open in 2011, will eventually become one: “It is one of our long-term goals.”Â
Batulis, who took over as CEO of Orange Regional Medical Center in 2006, comes to the Hudson Valley via Minnesota, one of the most progressive states in the country when it comes to health care. How does he see the United States fixing its national crisis? “Well, in Minnesota, if we needed to make improvements, we”™d look at other states and model our needs after their best practices … unfortunately, there is so much political infighting, nothing seems to get done on a national level. It would be great for our citizens and our hospitals if we could put politics aside and put people first.”
