INTERESTING
Much has been discussed recently about the restructuring of the hospital systems in our small state. Whether, a large Partners health system (Boston, MA) will be good or bad for the people of Rhode Island. I guess it depends which people we are referring to. The reality in our orthopedic realm is that we can continue to provide quality care for patients in almost any environment. In our current model in Rhode Island, most orthopedic surgery is performed in one of the several hospitals. The alternative would be to provide care in an ambulatory surgery setting, significantly reducing the health care spend for comparable procedures.
I think hospitals that are forming strategic partners with different specialties have the best chance of redefining and reinventing themselves in the future. I am not sure continuing down a path where acquisitions and growth of services that could (and perhaps should) alternatively be performed in lower cost, quality centers really makes sense. There are truly a limited number of healthcare dollars and no one has unlimited resources. Belonging to a health system may feel more “secure”, but more detail and question should go into the process. Does it make sense for that service to cost more by being part of a hospital? Can hospitals reinvent themselves to provide the timely and cost effective care needed for a community, without needing the revenue generated from services that do not need a hospital?
Healthcare is incredibly expensive. No one can argue. Many arguments exist but why is healthcare so expensive in the US by most measures, and yet we are not healthier? Almost all of the answers return to business and capitalism at work. People have choices and marketing plays a role on nutrition and food sources and fast food, etc.
The reason Ortho RI was formed was that we needed a lower cost alternative to orthopedic care that did NOT sacrifice access to patients or quality of care. We firmly believe that we can partner with our hospitals to help them create Centers of Excellence for orthopedic services requiring hospital involvement. At the same time, we believe developing an ambulatory surgery center (we have broken ground in Warwick) to allow a lower cost of care solution for outpatient procedures will help patients and the health care system in general in Rhode Island.
I would ask everyone to stay patient focused as this journey may get a little bumpy in the coming years. You have our promise that we will always remain patient-focused.
