A Round Table Discussion on Health Care – Home Style

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The conversation this week-end over the dinner table turns to the topic of Health Care. Over a dozen people of varying ages are gathered for a holiday meal. As the dishes are being cleared, people fill their coffee cups and the topic pops up.

The person to my right is attending a Health Reform Conference tomorrow at a local hospital, mostly focused on the electronic medical record. He has been invited by the COO. The sponsoring organization needs more doctor-buy in. Most around the table feel this innovation is improving quality. Many question whether it will truly bring down costs, as proponents suggest. Much uncertainty over the many aspects of reform spills out.

“If the Supreme Court rules against the Reform Bill, what’s left will just be an enormous added expense.” Most pro or con agree with this. But most also agree doing nothing is no longer an option. Some have kids without coverage. Some of these kids are out looking for jobs. It is still tough out there. Things are very different now for young people.

Across from me a doctor expresses frustration with the health care record systems at the hospitals where he attends. He contends with four different four systems at the different sites, some within the same system, that do not ‘talk’ to one another. Converting everything to one uniform system now would be very expensive and labor-intensive. Though the current Administrative in Washington offers tax incentives to do this, it is just too expensive. He complains you need to memorize the vagaries of each different system. “Patients still want to go where they want to go, They don’t care ‘beans’ about the hospital record system.”

Someone else voiced the feeling that he is not sure now what to expect from Romney if he were elected. “He has said so many things about reform, it is hard to know what he would really like to do.” I’m undecided about Obama-care. Maybe we should just scrap everything and try again. Maybe we’ll have to.”

Someone else across the table from one of the same hospital systems tells me away from the table “I don’t get invited to those kind of meetings, so I have no idea what is going on. It’s just ‘You gotta do more with less.’ How long have we been doing exactly that?”

Another participant who has served on hospital boards speaks up “I only get hit up to make contributions anymore. I gave to the new Cancer Center. I see it getting built. It’s taking an awful  long time. They’ve raised a lot of money. They want to attract cancer patients that are going elsewhere.”

That triggers a new conversation about the Pediatric Specialty Hospital being built at the nearby Medical School. Will regional referral patterns change to send more referrals there? “I don’t know. People are pretty happy at the (regional) Children’s Hospital” (which often rates Number One in national polls.) The doctor again.  “The staff in Pediatrics at the Medical School is pretty good. They have a lot of specialists. But the Children’s Hospital has set up a single fee system with a large purchasing group in the area that makes their members very happy. I don’t see a lot of switching right now, except maybe for those who live almost on top of it.”

“Who needs a refill?” Someone is hovering over my right shoulder with a pot of freshly brewed coffee.

And so it goes in the free and open marketplace of Health Care.

Tom Godfrey

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