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General News: Hospital Execs Talk About Challenges
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| From left, Patterson, Atzrott and Batulis listen to Chamber President John D'Ambrosio. Photo: MidhudsonNews.com |
August 23, 2011
Top officials of Orange County’s three hospital groups spoke to the Orange County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday to share in the development of their individual facilities as well as thoughts on the impacts of healthcare reform on their businesses.
The three CEOs were Allan Atzrott of St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital, Scott Batulis of the new Orange Regional Medical Center and Phillip Patterson of Bon Secours Charity Health System.
Each spoke on the growth and development of his own facilities and the role the government will play in how effective healthcare will fare in the coming years.
Atzrott addressed stateside medical tribulations, mentioning that “25 hospitals have closed in southern New York since 2008.” He cited a hospital evaluation report stating that “revenue is growing at the slowest rate in 21 years,” with 20 percent of the over 400 surveyed hospitals operating at a deficit and 63 percent with “zero to five percent margins.”
Atzrott said this will become even more pronounced once healthcare reform takes away much of the reimbursement physicians receive from Medicare. New York State also has the most expensive Medicaid program in the nation, which he said will lead to further cuts.
Atzrott said the government needs to be in sync with what is going on with the rest of the world.
“Here’s my message to the government: You really want to cut excess spending? Close those 3,000 post offices and let’s get out of Afghanistan,” he said.
Batulis heads the newly completed ORMC. The 383-room facility, which is 50 percent larger than the former Horton and Arden Hill campuses together, is just beginning to realize its potential, he said.
Though he wasn’t as critical of healthcare reform as Atzrott, Batulis did bemoan the housing market and its role in impeding the acquisition of management candidates. Between Orange Regional and Catskill Regional Medical Center in Sullivan County, they employ over 3,000 full-time people, many recruited from around the nation.
“I would hope that as part of healthcare reform, we can get the housing market fixed because it is really impacted mobility of people to take jobs and move up and get everybody in the right spot,” he said.
Bon Secours Charity Health System runs a community hospital in Port Jervis, St. Anthony’s in Warwick and Good Samaritan in Suffern. Its president, Patterson, said migration was working in Orange County’s favor.
One of Patterson’s main concerns is the aging population because healthcare is becoming “an increasingly expensive issue to address.”
He said that one in every five citizens will be over the age of 70 by 2030.
“The aging baby boomers will radically change the way healthcare is delivered in the US and it has to because of the cost associated with that age bracket,” he said, adding that doctors and nurses are also aging at a faster rate than they’re being replenished.
St. Luke’s has seen considerable development this year. The hospital completed a $125 million project that included the construction of a parking garage in Newburgh, renovations to “nearly every patient room, the pharmacy, cafeteria and laboratory,” and Hollie’s Garden, a meditation and healing area in their Littman Cancer Center in Cornwall.
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