3/16/2010 (Editor’s note: Please see “NewsLanc’s response.“)
Robert,
I am troubled by Sunday’s post on your website noting that, with John Fry’s eventual departure for Drexel University, you now have “only one more target in mind: Lancaster General Health.” … I’d like to correct the errors found in Sunday’s post:
You wrote: Because LGH can charge more to insurance companies, insurers in turn charge more to Lancastrians for coverage. So LGH’s huge profits are coming from our pockets.
We can’t answer for what insurers charge their customers. What we can say however is our charges are comparable to other Lancaster County hospitals, and in many cases are lower than our two for-profit hospitals. According to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council’s Hospital Performance Report 2008, Lancaster General Hospital’s charges were lower than Lancaster Regional Medical Center in 18 out of 27 procedures. Unlike our county’s two for-profit hospitals with shareholders living across the country, members of our Board of Trustees live and own businesses in Lancaster County. They constantly challenge us to provide safe and effective healthcare at a competitive cost – to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay – because their companies and families feel the impact.
You wrote: Its second highest profits in the state are mainly the result of market dominance, something they are trying to perfect by crowding out its remaining viable competitor, Ephrata General Hospital.
Everything Lancaster General Health earns is reinvested back into our system, unlike for-profit hospital chains that pay dividends to investors, or use profits to acquire hospitals in far-away states. Our dollars are reinvested locally into our facilities, people and in new technology to ensure high-quality healthcare is available now and in the future. For example, hospitals of our size and scope require approximately $50 million annually to replace capital equipment throughout our health system, and federal mandates to establish an electronic medical record at LG Health will require us to spend more than $130 million over the next three years.
Furthermore, we have no desire to “crowd out” Ephrata Community Hospital. Lancaster General Health and Ephrata Community Hospital continue to look for ways to partner in ensuring healthcare services are available in one of the fastest growing regions of our community.
You wrote: LGH, a non-profit ‘public charity’ is one of the least charitable hospitals in the state! We know not what it is doing with its vast earnings, but we do know they are not being directed adequately towards local public health and education.
This statement is categorically false. Our contributions to our community in charity care, free healthcare services, financial assistance and cash donations to government and school districts exceed other hospitals in our region. In fact earlier this year, Lancaster General Hospital was named a finalist of the prestigious Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service, one of the most esteemed community service honors in healthcare, recognizing healthcare organizations like ours that are role models for improving the health and well-being of their communities.
It’s important to note that there is a difference between “charity care” and “uncompensated care.” Last fiscal year, we provided more than $7 million in charity care for patients with little or no health insurance. In addition, we spent nearly $50 million to cover the unpaid cost of services and state programs provided to financially disadvantaged patients (uncompensated care). This amount is based on the cost to provide care, not our charges.
We actively encourage and assist uninsured patients in enrolling in our state’s Medicaid program, which unfortunately only pays a small fraction of our costs to provide them care. When a patient is enrolled in Medicaid, the difference between cost and payment is no longer considered “charity care.” Certainly, if we did not place a priority in getting the uninsured enrolled in Medicaid, our charity care number would be much higher. Enrolling patients in Medicaid is to the patient’s advantage, as it assures them access to medications, physician visits, and other critical services they may require outside of hospital settings.
There is not enough room here to detail the substantial financial and professional resources we annually dedicate with dozens of area partners toward addressing our community’s true health priorities. A great way to start learning would be to download our many Community Benefit Reports at http://bit.ly/cKKcJw
We use national, state and local health data, such as mortality and morbidity data, risk factor surveys, Healthy People 2020 goals, and many others, to objectively identify our community’s actual health priorities. Those priorities are:
- Increasing healthy weight management
- Reducing tobacco use
- Improving access to primary care for the growing number of medically underserved throughout Lancaster County
Under the guidance of our Mission & Community Benefit Committee of the Lancaster General Board of Trustees, we create and maintain programs, foster partnerships and align services to address those priorities. We constantly measure our progress. The Committee, which includes volunteer members of our community, assists our Trustees in fulfilling its oversight responsibility related to our mission and efforts at improving community health.
You wrote: There is total lack of transparency, with media and public being banned from all LGH trustee and committee meetings except for the annual public meeting, and the one goes unnoted and unreported by the Lancaster press. (It was last November, but not a word was printed about it before or after.)
This is also untrue. Our financial performance, clinical outcomes, charges, and infection rates are publicly reported on a regular basis by several independent agencies and via our website. We publicly issue two Community Benefit Reports and send monthly Community Benefit Updates via email to more than 9,000 people to communicate our efforts in improving the health and well-being of Lancaster County. Furthermore, we are regularly featured by the local print and electronic media, which write both positive and negative stories. As for the LGH Trustee meeting, it was advertised in Lancaster Newspapers and members of the public attended.
You wrote: Finally, management at LGH is totally self perpetuating, with current trustees choosing future ones. There is no public input.
Management isn’t governance. At LG Health, management serves at the pleasure of our community-based Board of Trustees. Our Board of Trustees is “the public.” The board is comprised of volunteer civic and business leaders from our community. They help guide the creation of our health system’s vision and strategy, which is carried out by our leadership team and our more than 7,400 employees.
The Board of Trustees gains perspective and additional public input through several ad hoc committees, which include dozens of community members from throughout the county. As is the case with other public charities, our Board of Trustees regularly selects members of the community to serve on the board.
Thomas E. Beeman, PhD, FACHE
President and Chief Executive Officer
Lancaster General Health
