Health care makes Spokane tick
In Spokane County, Health Care `R Us.
A new study prepared by Dave Bunting and Patrick Jones at Eastern Washington University confirms a diagnosis for years known only by its symptoms: The Spokane economy depends on the health care industry like it does no other. In fact, nothing else comes close. Our hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, support services and insurers generate fully 20 percent of the county’s economic output, 22 percent of its income, and directly or indirectly employ 21 percent of its workers.
By comparison, health care constitutes about 10 percent of the King County economy, and about 13 percent of Washington’s. The share is the same for Ada County in Idaho (Boise), and Washoe County in Nevada (Reno), both about the size of Spokane County.
Yet, another recent assessment compiled by the Spokane Regional Health District finds that 21 percent of county households either had no access at all to health care, or could do so only with difficulty or delay. Dental and mental health care is even further out of reach because of cost or, in the case of patients covered by Medicare or Medicaid, lack of willing service providers. Last week, 125 more mental health patients learned they will lose public health care benefits.
“Spokane County’s health care system proves successful as well as needing improvement,” the district assessment says. “The challenge for us is to determine where our efforts will be most effective.”
The words are an almost perfect cue for a Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce delegation headed for Washington, D.C., this week. The Chamber plans to make periodic sallies east to discuss specific topics with our congressional delegation, and appropriate officials in the executive branch. Health care is first up, and with good cause.
According to the health district assessment, an astounding 64 percent of all primary health care patients in Spokane County had their treatment paid for with taxpayer dollars; Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance covering public employees and their dependents. If anything, that figure understates the total share because the cost of treating prison inmates is not included. And Medicare covers a larger piece of hospitalization costs than do private insurers.
Yet Medicare reimbursement formulas that penalize Washington health care providers are among the greatest threats to the financial health of area hospitals and doctors, as is the impasse over tort reform. The chamber also wants more information about medical savings accounts, and association health plans that allow small businesses to offer insurance to their employees.
The Spokane group will lobby on behalf of increased funding for nursing education programs that encourage graduates to serve in rural areas, and cancel loans for those who agree to teach at nursing schools, where faculty salaries are often less than those that can be earned on hospital floors. Expansion of the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education in a new University District building is a high priority for local officials.
Also, Sen. Maria Cantwell and two other senators two weeks ago introduced a bill that would provide financial support for the education of professionals in a variety of health-related professions, including dental hygienics, laboratory technology, and physical, occupational and respiratory therapy.
Jeff Selle, who handles government affairs for the Spokane Regional Chamber, says exposing several key Bush administration officials to the technological innovations of Inland Northwest Health Services could open the way for demonstration programs using the technology, as well as Spokane’s state-of-the-art information infrastructure. In April, he says, officials discussed INHS capabilities with Phillip Bond, undersecretary of commerce for technology. He was impressed.
“We’re well ahead of the nation in using technology in health care,” says Selle, who calls Bond “the go-to guy in the federal government for technology.”
Also on a packed agenda are meetings with D. Clay Ackerly, special assistant to the administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Dr. David Brailer, the newly appointed coordinator for information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services.
INHS success managing workers’ compensation claims in Eastern Washington, and tracking more than two million patient files, ought to be a model for someone. But our inability to meet the health care needs of every citizen, despite Spokane’s depth of medical resources, ought to be a warning.
Spokane has a message for Washington: We can help. You can help.
Business columnist Bert Caldwell can be reached at (509) 459-5450, or at bertc@spokesman.com.