Innovations, rising costs affect industry

Local health care is changing to a more holistic approach, one official said.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Expensive new technology and drugs, reimbursements that don't cover costs, and a new generation that shops for its medical care are among the trends and challenges affecting health-care providers nationally and locally.
Compounding the challenges in the Mahoning Valley are an "older, sicker and poorer" population compared with the rest of the state; health indicators that rank worse than state and national averages; and a growing number of uninsured, said Robert Shroder, president and chief executive officer of Humility of Mary Health Partners.
Shroder said the cost of charity care to HMHP rose from $28 million in 2002 to $40 million in 2004.
Shroder and Michael H. Cox, chief operating officer of Forum Health, spoke about innovations and trends in health-care delivery to the Leadership Mahoning Valley class Thursday at the D.D. and Velma Davis YMCA here.
Quality of life
With the advent of chronic illness management, the health-care way of doing business is changing from the traditional "treat and care" to a more holistic approach, where the focus is on the person as well as on the disease, Cox said.
The health-care community is adjusting and adapting to diseases for which there is no cure. But, with the right medical care, patients can have improved quality of life, Cox said.
"Our new mission is to keep the community well and people out of the hospital," said Cox.
Some of the new technology and drugs are leading to shorter hospital stays and less invasive procedures, Shroder said.
For example, Shroder said new drug-eluting stents keep arteries open longer than regular stents; and ultra-fast CT scanners stop motion and produce clearer images, enabling physicians to make quicker and more accurate diagnoses and treatments.
Cox said the advances in technology and medicines allow quicker intervention and better outcomes for the patients. They enhance medicine's ability to influence the quality of life, he said.
Financial challenges
But Shroder noted the new technology is extremely expensive, and health-care systems are financially squeezed, primarily because Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies do not reimburse at a level high enough to cover costs.
There is a market squeeze, too, Cox said, caused by more sophisticated consumers who want faster, better services that are less expensive at the same time.
Both HMHP and Forum Health have adjusted their services mix to reflect the movement of the population.
People are leaving the city, Shroder said, and as a result, HMHP is building a 150-bed hospital at its Boardman Campus.
Forum Health recently opened its Women and Infants Pavilion devoted to births at Beeghly Medical Park in Boardman. Cox pointed to the Women and Infants Pavilion as an example of aiming a facility at a specific segment of the market, a trend he predicted would grow.
Areas of growth
Also, Cox said there will be more collaborations and partnerships with community organizations, such as the Davis YMCA, which is on the St. Elizabeth campus and houses health-care services.
Another rapidly growing segment of health care is information technology, Shroder said.
Electronic medical records permit physicians to access their patients' records via computer from home. Computerized physician order entries and prescriptions cut down on mistakes, and medicines are even administered via robot, Shroder said.
He said HMHP's picture archiving and communications digital imaging system allows physicians to immediately see their patients' information.
The technology is here in the Mahoning Valley. People really don't have to go to Cleveland or Pittsburgh, Shroder said.
Cox, who said he is relatively new to the community, finds it interesting that people here tend to think of the Cleveland Clinic or UPMC in Pittsburgh as having the highest quality care. Actually, he said, indicators show that patient outcomes are as good or better in the Valley's hospitals.
alcorn@vindy.com