Dr. Martin Hickey, president of Lovelace Health Systems, says that care levels are not declining, but neither are they rising with patient expectations. We're delivering great care for all our systems, we're just not putting a lot of frills in place. There's just so much we can do. We have lowered utilization to the lowest appropriate level. The private sector can't afford to keep absorbing the current rate increases.
Relief has to come.
If we cut costs anymore, I start cutting nursing wards and limiting medications to inappropriate levels. As a doctor, I cannot do that. I would rather take off my white coat and leave the business. Industry leaders agree that the only two avenues now left available for hospitals and HMO's to contribute to the solution are streamlining and education. One issue we're working diligently on is flexible staffing, expending hours equal to number of patients or procedures performed in a department, and monitoring departmental effectiveness in adjusting to volume increases as well as decreases.