Southland hospital execs in accord on critical issues

Southland hospital execs in accord on critical issues

While Congress struggles to craft a health care reform bill acceptable to constituents and President Barack Obama, regional providers are not sitting back.

Nearly 200 business people recently heard a panel discussion packed the Holiday Inn Tinley Park Convention Center for a Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce event focused on present and future health care coverage.

Michael Wojcik, Chamber health care vice chairman and senior vice president of The Horton Group, moderated the discussion, featuring panelists Arnold Kimmel, CEO of Metro South Medical Center (formerly St. Francis) in Blue Island; Michael Holmes, executive vice president and COO of St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Chicago Heights and Olympia Fields; Eileen Gillespie, vice president and chief nurse executive at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest; and Vince Pryor, CEO of Ingalls Health System in Harvey.

“We’re in the midst of history-making health care reform that will affect all of us,” said Wojcik, who participated in health care transition meetings for the Obama administration.

Panel members echoed each other on critical issues. These include the rising number of under- and uninsured patients, the dramatic increase in emergency room visits, lengthy delays in Medicaid and Medicare payments and the need to streamline services while raising safety procedures and customer satisfaction.

Both Metro South and Ingalls have invested millions of dollars in information technology with the goal of having all patient records centralized in each hospital’s internal network; this saves time, money and facilitates patient care.

“We’ve evolved (in the last year) from a Catholic not-for-profit hospital to a for profit, tax-paying hospital,” Kimmel said.

While maintaining the excellence in cardiology established under St. Francis, Metro South has added “enhanced services for women and infants.”

Community outreach includes free blood pressure and diabetes screenings at area businesses.

“This is not only good medicine but good business too,” Kimmel said.

St. James has operated in the red for the last nine of 10 years, Holmes said. Fortunately, the 98-year-old provider is under the wing of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mishawaka, Ind.

As St. James continues to work toward profitability, it has streamlined services; cardiology and oncology departments are at Olympia Fields while women’s care, pediatrics, rehabilitation and hospice are centered in Chicago Heights.

“We also are working on patient satisfaction and making certain we have the right employees in the right places,” Holmes noted.

Gillespie said that “educating, empowering and partnership with patients” are critical to preventive care.

South Suburban has positioned itself as a leader in caring for victims of violent crimes.

“We have nurses 24/7 who are uniquely qualified (to work with) victims of sexual abuse,” she said.

Gillespie also emphasized the increasing shortage of primary care physicians can be addressed by highly trained nurse practitioners.

Meanwhile, mental health is an area that remains underserved and one in which hospitals need to partner.

“We also need tort reform. It’s easy for doctors to move across to Indiana where there has happened,” Gillespie added.

“I could say ‘ditto’ (to everyone),” Pryor noted. “What’s different about Ingalls is we are a not-for-profit independent health system. We have only our board and the community to answer to.”

The system is profitable as family care centers in Tinley Park, Calumet City and Flossmoor have dramatically increased Ingalls’ outpatient volume.

“This will be another huge challenge as we go forward,” he said.