Hospital CEO - Terry Lambert
March 25, 2008
Newman Regional Health CEO Terry Lambert will answer your questions about Emporia's hospital.
Moderator: Today's guest is Terry Lambert, chief executive officer of Newman Regional Health, Emporia's public community hospital. We have received a number of advance questions for Mr. Lambert, but are still accepting new questions during the chat, which will last until about 2 p.m. Remember to update (redfresh your screen frequently to keep up with the questions and answers. Here we go. The first question is about Medicare Advantage plans.
mmccrory: Does Newman Regional accept Medicare Advantage plans from patients? (Specifically, Private Fee For Service Medicare plans.)
Terry Lambert : Yes, we do accept Medicare Advantage, specifically Medicare Fee for Service, Medicare Plans, even though we may not be a contracted provider.
Wasp: When are you going to take your gun ban signs down so a law abiding citizen can defend themselves and others when a gun-toting criminal comes in and starts shooting the place up? You will not get any more business from me until then.
Terry Lambert : The signs are posted for the safety and security of our patients, visitors, employees and others that utilize our facility. The law specifically prohibited concealed weapons in bars and taverns, schools, government buildings and similar places. However, hospitals were not specifically named. Although, we are a county facility and may have technically been covered as a government facility, we have chosen to post the signage to make it clear that weapons are prohibited on our premises. To my knowledge, most, if not all hospitals in Kansas have posted similar signage.
neighbor: It seems the Hospital is under constant remodeling. I know in the late 80's and early 90's when I worked in a construction field, we did work on three wings where the wing was gutted and everything was replaced with new. I have noticed in the last year, those same floors being worked on again. I read reports often that the Hospital operates in a loss. Is the construction being done to help accomplish not having a profit?
Terry Lambert : Although the hospital is operated as a not-for-profit facility, there is no requirement nor benefit to the hospital showing a financial loss. We are currently renovating different areas in the hospital in an effort to create more private rooms as requested by our patient population. In addition, the rooms have been modified to accommodate patient safety features such as patient lifts, private showers and improvements in air-handling. We are committed to making sure that our facility is modern, current, and up to date to meet the needs and expectations of the people we serve. It may seem like we are changing things all of the time, however, the areas currently under renovation have not been completely renovated for 25 – 35 years. With rapid changing technology, that is a long time.
neighbor: A family member of mine who is on a fixed income, is required to take numerous medications. She was hospitalized last year and had surgery to fix an injury from a fall. She was not allowed to bring in her already overpriced prescriptions from home. She had to buy the same medication from the Hospital pharmacy, at 3x the price she paid at a local pharmacy. Can you please try to justify this scalping of the price? I understand the Hospital not wanting the patients to bring in their own medicine due to liability issues, I just have a real hard time accepting that $9 is a fair price for an aspirin, or that 3X the going rate for medication available outside the hospital is a fair.
Terry Lambert : I agree that healthcare, in general, is very expensive. And hospitals, are especially expensive due to the expensive technology, professional staffing (24 hour a day) and expensive supplies and equipment and meeting government and regulatory requirements,. There are many factors that go into the pricing of hospital services including medications. Instead of charging thousands of dollars per day for a room charge, which would be required to cover all of the costs, the hospital industry uses a formula which spreads all of the total costs (as mentioned above) to individual goods and services. You are correct, that liability is the main concern for not allowing patients to bring their own medicines from home.
moderator: What improvents are you currently working on what are your future goals?
Terry Lambert : As stated above, the hospital is renovating patient rooms to accommodate requests for private rooms. In addition, other major projects include bed-side medication verification (patient safety initiative), Electronic Health Record (as required by Federal Law), physician recruitment, new LED surgical lights, improved patient billing statements (easier to read and understand), new surgical scopes, 4-D ultrasound (enhanced images for Obstetrics) and new radiology equipment. Future projects (next year) include upgrading our MRI and CT equipment.
moderator: What can be done to help recruit doctors and nureses to Emporia?
Terry Lambert : Recruitment is a high priority of Newman Regional Health. We must be competitive in what we offer, which includes salary, benefits, hours, on-call, etc. Recruiting incentives include sign-on bonuses, moving expenses and various other perks. New recruits expect quality-of-life features such as good schools, shopping, restaurants, arts and a supportive community. In addition, employment opportunities for spouses are an important factor.
moderator: How does Newman Regional Health compare to other hospitals around the state in towns comparible to Emporia?
Terry Lambert : Newman Regional Health continually compares and benchmarks our services and performance with many other hospitals across the state and nationally. We compare ourselves in a variety of areas including: patient satisfaction and outcomes, patient charges and financial performance and quality of care. There are numerous indicators for each of these topics and we compare favorably with most all of the indicators. For example, we score very high in the cleanliness of our hospital compared to others; the Home Health Department ranked in the 98th percentile nationally; our same day surgery continues to rank above other similar facilities. It is also safe to say that our patient charges are lower than others when compared to others in the State. We continually look for areas to improve and take action as indicated.
moderator: What is the latest with helicopter. Is the service working well for Emporia? Do we lose money when patients are taken out of Emporia?
Terry Lambert : We believe that the helicopter is an asset to the community and know that it has saved lives. Patients that are transferred out of Emporia, by the helicopter, are transferred to larger medical centers to receive services that are not provided locally.
keasha: When someone wants to apply for your Patient Assistance program, are they eligible to apply if they have been left with balances after insurance? This time of year some people have large deductibles, are divorced parents with no jobs such as the Tyson situation, or only their single income already trying to make ends meet. Having balances and no job has an effect on people both mentally and emotionally which adds undue stress to their families well being in this already trying time for them. Should they have balances would they be eligible to apply?
LyonCoCitizen: Why does my bill sometimes say “insurance write-off”? Does this mean people that do not have insurance have to pay more?
Terry Lambert : People that do not have insurance do not pay more. Since December 2006, people that do not have insurance have automatically been given a 20% discount. That discount amount was chosen because it is the same amount given to some of our Managed Care (insurance) accounts. In addition, patients with no insurance can always apply for additional discounts or a total write off through our charity care policy or our medical indigency program. Our uncompensated Care Program consists of two components. The first component is a charity care component for those who are uninsured. It is a sliding scale discount based on percentages over the Federal Poverty Guidelines which are based on annual income. The second component of this policy is what we call Medical Indigency. This program is for patients that may suffer from a chronic illness or have substantial deductibles or copays. Many times we see patients faced with medical bills that are impossible to pay, even though the patient may be employed and have health insurance. In these situations, our policy allows a sliding scale discount based on the family’s annual income and the total medical bills for that patient and family. We consider all medical bills, not just Newman Regional Health as we know that there are many other bills from physicians, and other hospitals that contribute to the inability to pay. In consideration of the effects of any employment layoff, we work with our patients that have been impacted to extend payments and offer other resources available. We just need those patients to notify our Patient Accounts Department of the need for assistance in planning their payments.
Moderator: That's all the time we have for today's chat. Thank you to Terry Lambert for agreeing to come to The Gazette newsroom to answer questions, and thanks to the readers who participating in the chat. For a transcript of the chat, go to the chat fourm on www.emporiagazette.com or se Wednesday's Gazette for a printed version.