Last Friday at the Holiday Inn By-the-Bay, President-elect John Curran introduced Bill Caron, the president of the largest private employer in the state of Maine, Maine Health, with 19,000 employees and $2.5 in annual revenues. Bill’s talk, entitled “The Current State and the Challenges Ahead,” was an eye-opening look at health care in Maine and the issues involved as changes occur at a rapid rate.
Bill opened his remarks with a reminiscence of a time, just a decade ago, when a patient would be admitted to the hospital for a hip replacement, spending 10-14 days in-patient post-op, then another 3-5 days at an in-patient therapy center, followed by visits from a home health aide in the weeks after these stays. Now, a patient is up and walking hours after this same procedure and discharged to go home in less than 24 hours in the hospital. With these remarkable changes in technology and care come many issues, both beneficial and detrimental to the patient who must be seen as a consumer in this ever-changing business model.
In looking at what “works well” within the healthcare system in Maine, Bill reiterated that the quality of care is rated at the very top of the United States and the physicians and other providers are “as good as it gets” but, that being said, the issues revolving around childhood obesity and smoking are still a major concern, especially with the expected costs for all of us to incur should these problems become longstanding with so many associated maladies.
The major challenge, as one would expect, remains the cost for the consumer of healthcare. With “cost shifting” transferring so many of the ever-increasing expenses to you and me, through health insurance rate increases, and the population ever aging, with the expectant costs related to care, there are no easy fixes. Mainers pay the fifth highest rates in the country for insurance, which is forcing many providers and insurers to re-design the delivery systems for healthcare, wherein services are only offered at regional facilities, not with the “home town provider.” Maine is losing more and more qualified health professionals to Boston and further south, a trend that has been longstanding.
Bill Caron, in addressing these issues, and others, offered some real insight into our ever-evolving healthcare system, with no easy answers to some of these longstanding problems. But he asked for our patience and cooperation as those in power, representing both public and private sectors, work tirelessly to seek solutions in the months ahead.
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(Photo L-R: President-elect John Curran, Bill Caron, and President Don Zillman.)