Maybe the public hospital we had in Salt Lake Co. is affordable healthcare model
The inspiration to write this column came while my wife and I were watching the new television series “New Amsterdam.” In the series, New Amsterdam is a public hospital. It is patterned after the present-day Bellevue Hospital in New York City, which is our nation’s oldest public hospital. Bellevue treats all comers at no charge.
When I was a wee tyke, Salt Lake County had a public hospital that treated all comers at no charge. As I remember, my family never used its services because we had an excellent family physician and other hospitals were low-cost, but many other Salt Lake County residents did use the services.
I did not vote for Proposition 3 to get more Medicaid funding for Utah from the feds because the one thing that Utah’s healthcare system does not need is more money. Utah is one of the lowest-cost states when it comes to the cost of healthcare, but it is still almost twice the cost of what other developed countries have to pay for their healthcare as compared to their gross domestic products.
There are only two ways to bring the cost of America’s healthcare down: reduce the prices paid to healthcare providers or increase the productivity of healthcare providers. In my opinion, we must do both.
The Medicare-For-All proponents tout that if Medicare-For-All is passed, healthcare providers will be paid 40 percent less. To this, all I can say is, good luck, Bernie, in trying to get American doctors to accept 40 percent less revenue. Presently, there are only a few doctors that won’t treat Medicare participants but with BernieCare, I am willing to bet that the number will skyrocket.
Both the use of technology and the reinvention of the way patients are treated will increase productivity. For instance, using physicians’ assistants will increase a doctor’s productivity. My daughter, who is pregnant, told my wife and me the other day that she is using a midwife to assist her with her pregnancy. When I asked her why, she said that the only time an OBGYN needs to see you is when there is an emergency.
Primary care centers offer another solution. The primary care center is, in essence, a mini-hospital that provides a number of different healthcare services. In theory, this will provide patients with better care, thus reducing the overall cost of their healthcare. In practice, I have seen no evidence that this is occurring.
Another promising option is on-site workplace clinics. These on-site clinics work when it comes to reducing the cost of employees’ healthcare, but in order to make an on-site clinic cost-effective, you have to have a large number of employees. It would be possible for a group of small businesses to band together and set up a clinic in close proximity to their shops.
Technology offers a huge possibility to reduce the cost of healthcare by having a doctor come to you rather than you going to a doctor. The Apple Watch shows a lot of promise for sorts of ways to reduce costs. It can help you be healthier. It can monitor your body functions and alert you and your doctor if something goes wrong. The Apple Watch, in my opinion, is just the beginning of wearable devices that should bring down the cost of healthcare.
When you look at the above, the one thing that jumps out is that public hospitals offer a valid solution to reduce the cost of healthcare. A good friend practiced his residency at the Salt Lake County hospital. He told me that the hospital was staffed by doctors from the University of Utah, a whole bunch of nurses and one administrator. They treated 1,500 patients a day without charging a dime. Now that is cost-effective healthcare.
I have been trying to explain to my family and friends why they should be voting against Proposition 3 and all I get is blank stares. Obviously, I am a lousy debater.
Robert Pembroke is the former chairman and CEO of Pembroke’s Inc. in Salt Lake City.