2009 Wedding fashion
.jpg)
People's Choice Awards
.jpg)
People's Choice: Red Carpet
Get latest headlines via RSS feeds
NewsVine
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
StumbleuponHospitals keep building in hard times
Sunday, November 16, 2008
DAYTON — The economy may be in the doldrums but at least one sector is flying high in the Dayton region: hospital construction.
All told, 22 projects totaling more than $1 billion were either completed in the last year or are in the works. They include two hospital replacements (Middletown and Springfield), one major modernization (Greenville), three major heart treatment centers (Dayton and Kettering) and 10 hospital satellite facilities aimed at competing for private pay patients in the suburbs.
Hospital officials say the boom is good news for consumers. The construction brings health care closer to where patients live, and core facility updates give Dayton area residents access to top-quality specialty treatment.
But the boom comes with major risks, warn insurers and consumer advocates. More beds, more equipment and more facilities may mean more unnecessary procedures that raise health care costs and lead to poorer patient outcomes.
"The current pay system is perverse. It pays providers to do procedures and to keep hospital beds full," said Bill Hayes, president of the Ohio Health Insurance Institute. "It does not pay you for being efficient."
Bryan Bucklew, chief executive of Greater Dayton Hospital Association, said occupancy rates in the Dayton area are in line with national averages (67 percent locally compared to 69 percent nationally). Some surplus is necessary in case a major disaster strikes.
Hospital officials say the real problem is the country's broken system of paying for health care. With so many uninsured people unable to pay their medical bills, and with Medicare and Medicaid ratcheting down reimbursement, hospitals say they are forced to compete for more privately insured patients in order to offset their growing losses.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Among local projects
Work planned or under way:
Miami Valley Hospital: $135 million Miami Valley Heart Tower in Dayton (to be done in 2010)
Greene Memorial Hospital: $75 million medical campus in Beavercreek (2013)
Kettering Medical Center: $72 million Schuster Heart Hospital in Kettering (2010)
