Hospital chain CEO addresses national health care issues at business breakfast
Janel Shoun |
Featuring a new question-and-answer format, the breakfast highlighted the business plan behind Community Health System’s recent $5 billion-acquisition of Triad Hospitals, making it the largest publicly-traded hospital corporation in the United States.
The almost 50 percent of Americans who are uninsured and the aging of the baby boomers are two of the major trends influencing health care provision today, said Smith, who came to Community Health Systems when it operated just 35 hospitals.
There has to be a fix for the uninsured in America,” said Smith, praising the efforts of Sen. Hillary Clinton to begin a national debate on universal health care. “It’s the right thing to do for the people and it’s the right thing to do for the hospitals as well.”
After the uninsured, the next biggest concern on Smith’s mind is Medicare reimbursement, he said, in answer to an audience question. Historically, he said, Medicare has worked pretty well and the pricing and reimbursement system in health care is so complex that “reforming Medicare would require reforming the entire health care system,” he said.
After the Triad purchase, Community Health Systems now runs more than 300, with the Triad hospital additions, and employees 1,300 employees.
Part of the appeal of the Triad deal was that the company had many hospitals in the South, Southwest and the Northwest, all areas with large baby boomer populations, expected to utilize more health care services over the next few decades, Smith said.
Another aspect of his company’s health is that even after the new purchase, 65 percent of the hospitals are the sole provider in their communities, he said. “We think access to quality health care is the most important thing we can do in our communities,” he noted.