Health Care Chaos: Is It a Trend We Want to Continue?
Health care services play such an important role in the Pennsylvania economy, and amongst its residents: the elderly and the young, as well as everyone in between. The health care industry provides for the well being of the healthy and protects, cares for, and hopefully cures the infirmed. And, it also produces many jobs—in fact, 14 percent of all non-governmental jobs in the state. In other words, everyone has a stake in a healthy health care system.
But, in recent weeks, the Pennsylvania Medical Society issued the first ever The State of Medicine in Pennsylvania—2005 report that suggests trends showing how our complex health care system pieced together over many years is severely stressed.
Many have questioned these trends when good data were not collected and organized. However, now it’s not hard to prove; our health care infrastructure is under severe stress. To demonstrate, let’s begin by looking at the health insurance data and market trends.
The State of Medicine in Pennsylvania—2005 report finds the number of Pennsylvanians with private health insurance dropped from 7.1 million to 5.4 million between 2000 and 2005. Meanwhile, more people are relying on publicly funded insurance programs while too many go without any health insurance at all. Depending upon whose statistics you believe, there are between 900,000 and 1.5 million of our state’s residents uninsured. As far as the cost of private health insurance for those who have it, the study suggests that Pennsylvania rates are some of the highest in the country.
The report also looks at the demand for health care services.
Hospital admissions have increased in recent years. Also, analysis of five different data sources shows that the number of physicians engaged in patient care is either flat at best, or decreasing at a time when baby boomers are growing older and will require more health care services. Using trend data, it is possible to project a potential shortfall of nearly 10,000 Pennsylvania doctors in the upcoming years. Ultimately, there’s a trend of increasing demand for services and questionable supply.
This study was not intended to be all encompassing, and, for example, did not look at the areas of nursing, pharmaceuticals, and health care technology. But there are clear indications outside the report from other organizations that suggest a nursing shortage exists and the costs of medicine and equipment are increasing. It’s reasonable to believe that those areas also play important roles in resolving the health care chaos.
It’s always dangerous when issuing such a study like The State of Medicine in Pennsylvania—2005. Some will get defensive. Others may misuse the data for personal gain. However, the Pennsylvania Medical Society issued this report not to point fingers or advance a personal agenda. We simply want the truth out and believe that the trends discovered in the report merit further discussion. Are these trends acceptable for the future of patient care in Pennsylvania? Should Pennsylvania have a statewide strategy to secure this resource and industry?
The Pennsylvania Medical Society does not claim to have all the answer to these questions. And, if stakeholders agree that these trends are found to be unacceptable, we don’t claim to have a lock on how to fix the system.
But we do know that the future of health care in Pennsylvania is too important to all of us for many reasons. And it’s too important to get lost in battles between groups and politicians.
That’s why the Pennsylvania Medical Society is organizing a health care summit for June. We will bring together all who want to be a part of the discussion and part of the solution to problems identified. We don’t expect all answers on that first day, but we do expect honest discourse from professionals who hold the public trust so that a process can begin to bring sanity back to patient care, and secure our medical service infrastructure for our children and generations to come.
Last Updated: 8/1/2008