Inside Northside's June/July 2005 issue

Managing Healthcare

by Stacey Paretti Rase

Because of technological advances and medical breakthroughs, the healthcare industry is constantly in a state of flux. Innovations that were considered ground-breaking years ago may be commonplace in today’s culture. The same can be said for issues relevant to healthcare administration. What might be on the forefront of a hospital director’s concerns at one moment can quickly be replaced by other pressing issues, due to changes in community needs, the hospital environment, or something more specific, such as new legislation that affects the bottom line.

For this issue’s special section on healthcare, we’ve asked the directors of some of our area hospitals to share what they feel to be the most pressing concerns in the arena of healthcare, either for their facility in particular, or for our region as a whole.

While their specific answers were varied, it’s interesting to note how each hospital director’s responses carried an underlying theme: Behind every concern over taxes, regulations, staffing, and even insurance, the bottom line falls on patient care. Each CEO makes it a priority to deliver quality care to every patient—all the while juggling pressing issues and challenges to reach that goal in a cost-effective manner.

For Northshore Regional Medical Center’s CEO, Dr. Mike O’Bryan, healthcare’s biggest challenge is finding qualified staff members to enter the workforce. He feels that numbers are holding steady for the time being, but fears for adequate staffing in the very near future. “We need to better advertise the opportunities available in healthcare,” he says. “And we need to reach them as early as high school, educating them on the positions in nursing, pharmacy and radiology, which are so important.” Bryan says his hospital, and others in the area, are partnering with Delgado Community College and Charity School of Nursing to try and bridge the divide.

Bob Hawley, CEO of Slidell Memorial Hospital, identifies another staffing problem: the availability of specialty physicians in emergency rooms, such as neurologists and orthopedists. Because of higher malpractice insurance rates and these physicians’ preference for not covering the ER, Hawley says, “You may not be able to count on finding these specialists in the ER.”

Another paramount problem, according to St. Tammany Parish Hospital’s CEO Patti Ellish and many others we spoke with, is the increased burden placed on hospitals to find funding to cover the uninsured. She says the challenge is being able to continue to deliver a high quality of services when expenses are on the rise and government funding for programs like Medicaid continue to be cut. Because of the shortfall in Medicaid, hospitals are facing other possible legislative regulations, such as the imposition of a provider tax placed on healthcare facilities. “Simply put, we have to do more with less money,” says Ellish.

Lakeview Regional Medical Center’s CEO Max Lauderdale deals with the same problem, and begs, “What in the world is the state going to do?” He ties the funding shortfall to concern for patient safety issues. “We’re aiming to ensure satisfaction for the patient, and we’re using high-tech approaches to eliminate medical errors and provide the best medical equipment money can buy, but we’re facing major hurdles because of the cost to cover the uninsured.”

Chris Coffey, vice president of business development for the Louisiana Heart Hospital, faces a legislative issue of another kind: a moratorium on physician-owned hospitals, a category under which his facility falls. “Worst-case scenario, the government says that doctors can no longer hold interest in any hospital,” Coffey says. “Best case, they recognize the great specialized service we provide for our patients at reasonable rates.”

A major point of agreement among area healthcare leaders is that access to the highest levels of quality healthcare has definitely come home to the northshore. This is particularly true in available treatment for cancer and cardiovascular patients.

Ten years ago, it was common for cancer patients requiring treatment past a certain level to have to go to facilities in New Orleans, Baton Rouge or even Texas. Now, all levels of care can be handled locally. The advances include a higher level of diagnostic equipment and better treatment procedures—coupled with a very high degree of local expertise.

While open-heart surgery is quite common in today’s northshore hospitals, it was unheard of here only ten years ago. With the growth in population on the northshore has come an influx of talented physicians and many significant investments in hospital facilities and healthcare technology. We have stereotactic breast biopsy units, all-digital operating rooms, the newest radiation therapy facilities and 16-slice CT scanners.

The days of needing to cross the lake for great healthcare are in the past.