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CEO: LRHC ready for health care law changes [UPDATED]
Published 11:22am Monday, July 2, 2012 Updated 8:26am Tuesday, July 3, 2012Lake Region Healthcare has been taking steps to prepare for health care reform for several years, CEO Larry Schulz said. The development of the walk-in clinic and the integration between LRHC and the Fergus Falls Medical Group were both done in preparation for a new health care system.
With the intent of providing benefits including free vaccines for kids, cheaper drugs for the elderly and a guaranteed right to buy health insurance, many have high hopes for President Barack Obama’s new health care plan.
Many businesses and wealthy taxpayers, however, will see their costs go up, and most Americans balk at the idea of the government making people carry insurance or pay a penalty on their federal tax returns.
“We’ve been anticipating changes taking place in the health care system for a number of years, and we’ve been proactive in anticipating for reforms,” Schulz said.
The biggest challenge LRH faces is how to improve access to quality health care while reducing overall costs. Two major steps that have been taken to improve health care access were the development of theWalk-In Clinic and the integration between LRH and the Fergus Falls Medical Group, said Schulz.
The Walk-In Clinic makes it easier for residents to see physicians on a more timely basis, and it provides an alternative option for those with immediate medical concerns that don’t require emergency services, he said.
“We’ve been preparing for this regardless of what was going to happen with the Supreme Court’s decision because we know we need to improve health care in this country,” he said. “I think it’s important that as a society, we keep working toward a system in which hospitals and health care systems move toward improving the health of the population as a whole.”
According to the highest court in the land, this is not a penalty as laid out here in this article, or as President Obama would like to think of it as. This is another Tax laid on to those who work to support their homes and families. We already pay almost two thousand ($1,000.00) per month for our insurance, and it is promised to go up a whole lot more now. If the Hospitals truly want to keep the costs down, then maybe now would be a good time to stop all the expansions to keep their non-profit status. Just think if they weren’t charging too much for services, that the millions that they put into new buildings could keep the costs down to the patients and their families.
Jean–if it is true, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, you pay almost $2000 per month for health insurance then it is possible you might be paying almost $400 for other people who aren’t paying the full share of their own costs. Getting everyone to contribute something toward their own health care is the best way to lower the prices we responsible people pay.
Ryan–ask Mr. Schulz if LRMC practices “cost shifting.” I know it is important for hospitals and doctors to cover their costs and I think it would be of benefit for voters to know if they have been affected by this practice. You might also ask what is the cost and who pays for Reagan’s ferderal “must treat” mandate. Thanks, Larry
Hey, remember during the banking crisis when bankers had their pay and bonus’s reduced or during the auto bailout when auto management had their pay reduced? Yeah, neither do I. I remember that the bankers and the executives couldn’t have their pay reduced “because they had a contract”. The auto workers also had a contract but they weren’t executives nor bankers so their pay could be reduced.
It seem to me that every time we talk about excessive cost in any discipline or program it’s always and only the workers who have their pay and benefits reduced and/or eliminated. During all the public whining and wailing about the cost of education it’s only the teachers who most want to bear the brunt cost reduction.
Which now bring me to the issue of the very high cost of medical care and/or health insurance cost.
When have you ever heard anyone on television or in a newspaper even dare mention that perhaps if Doctors and Hospital Administrators were to accept less in their enormously fat paychecks maybe the cost could be reduced somewhat.
You can bet your last band-aid that if the issue is ever broached it will be the nurses, aids, maintenance staff and secretaries who will have their pay cut, it would be absolutely un-American, even Socialism itself to touch one red cent of a Doctors pay to say nothing of the extravagant salary of Hospital Administrators.
“enormously fat paychecks”? Right. “The median yearly wages of general practitioners were $186,044 in 2008″. And doctors have invested 4 years in college, 4 years in medical school, and a couple of years as an intern, plus many have hundreds of thousands dollars of student loans to pay back. And “while most practicing physicians are not working anywhere near the 80+ hours per week required by certain residency programs, many specialties are well into 60 hours per week and some even approach 70 hours per week on average.” The horror. Get a clue Chip.
Well it took someone less than a day to come to the aid of those poor overworked and underpaid Doctors.
In case it slipped your mind HollyHollymunkHollyAckermunkHollyOlsonmunk there are many many minimum wage workers who work much longer hours for a lot less money than the objects of your sympathy. Additionally there are other occupations that require just as much if not more hours of training and they do it with a lot less arrogance. So yes….“enormously fat paychecks” whether you get it or not.
Ah yes, overpaid AND arrogant – kind of sounds like your union bosses – they make the same kind of money, but do you complain about them? Noooooooooooo.
Try this, chipmunkackerjohnsonrichardolson – next time you are at the clinic, mention to your doctor that you think that he/she and all of their brethren are way overpaid and way arrogant. See where that gets you. And maybe take the MCAT exam sometime and see just how smart you aren’t.
It would be nice if just once you knew what you were talking about, but I guess that’s to be expected from someone who can’t remember their own name.
First of all you cited Doctors pay in 2008, that’s four years ago, even you tea baggers know that Doctors have received pay raise in the last four years. What ever the salary of Labor Leaders they are set by the membership and voted on at National Conventions. Who gets to vote on a Doctors salary? Certainly not the people who pay the bills. That’s the difference between a free democratic labor union and a bunch of back room board members setting the salary of a Doctor.
Lastly, Hollywhatevertoday I don’t use the clinic nor the hospital. I use the Veterans Administration. You may have heard about it, that’s the place where Doctors work because they want to help people. Not because they want to get rich.
Oh, I know what I am talking about – you just don’t like what I say, Richard, or Acker, or Chip, or whatever handle you go by lately.
According to mdsalaries.net, the average salary for Family Practice MDs in 2011 was $172,167. According to job-salary.com, the average VA Medical Center physician salary (equivalent to Family Practice) is currently $154.593, with an opening in Fargo, ND for $163,000. I heard that they are having a hard time getting doctors to work at the Fargo VA because of constant complainers like you. (I’ve read about several of your VA visits on your blog over the past few years).
And how much training/college do you need to be a Union Leader pulling down an “enormous fat paycheck”? None. It’s who you know and what your name is.
So it’s an “enormous fat paycheck” if you are intelligent, and invest 10 years of your life, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to be an MD. But it’s not if you are a knucklehead union yes-man. Nice try, Chip, whether you get it or not.
Hollywhatevertoday, you need some help, and I mean help in a medical setting. I’ve never ever listened to anyone so bitter about virtually everything. You must be a real joy to live with. Your arguments are nothing short of childish immature rants, which prove nothing other than hate. Hate for everything other than yourself and your narrow minded red neck views.
You may hear voices but you’ve never heard me complain about the Veterans Administration. And I don’t have a blog…it’s very lucky for you that I don’t.
I doubt this will make a dent in your skull but I’ll try anyway. Everyone who works at NASA is a member of a union. Now do you really think that when they elected their union president that they went out and picked someone off the street? Or do you think they picked from the Scientists, Astronauts, Technicians and other specialties working there? How about the union members at the City of Hope Medical Center? I suppose you think anyone can just walk and say they want to be the union president. Holly there are Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists, Nurses, Teachers, Professors, and other professions in Americas Labor Unions. Just because you hate workers doesn’t make them less than yourself and you certainly have demonstrated a severe lack of knowledge on the qualification necessary for union leadership. I sometimes wonder if your hatred for Union members and unions in general is rooted in your shame for being left stranded at the alter by a Union Leader.
Richard/Acker/Chip – you seem to revel in personally attacking anyone who disagrees with any of your comments. You stated your OPINION that doctors receive “enormously fat paychecks”, and later, you implied that VA physicians care more about their patients and earn significantly less than private practice MDs. I disagreed, and provided solid evidence to support my arguments. My comparison to Union leaders salaries was made because I have seen your rabid pro-union comments on several occasions (2011 salaries of union leaders and staff are available at: http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/03/03/2097/scores-union-leaders-earn-six-figure-salaries ).
So the question remains, “Is it an enormous fat paycheck if you are intelligent, and invest 10 years of your life, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to be an MD (and work to save people’s lives), but not if you are a union leader or work on that person’s staff?”
What is so difficult about this concept…..The wages of Union Leaders are set by the membership they serve. So whether you think those wages are high is immaterial, your opinion does not count because you are not a member of the union in question.
Doctors wages are set by a board of directors at a hospital or in private practice by whatever the traffic will bear.
Your argument is that the wages of Union Leaders are high even though they run million member organizations, handling millions of dollars in finance for the benefit of their members and thus have a say in world trade and finances. Compared to a Doctor who sees maybe twenty patients a day, fails to cure most of them and dispenses a few pills at the direction of large drug companies. His paperwork, billing and such is handled by the hospital and his nurse does most of the work. And for that he is paid an amount greater than most Labor Leaders (who’s wages are a matter of public record) The Doctors wages are secret and he gets paid whether you live or die, whether you get well or remain ill.
What if a lowly Union Mechanic tried that……”Yeah, so I didn’t fix your car, you still have to pay me.”
Or a Union plumber…”So what if I didn’t fix your toilet and I tracked poop throughout you house, you still have to pay me.” But the Doctor….”Hey sorry about your husband widow Jones, but you still me 80 thousand dollars and the hospital another 120 thousand, after all that’s life”.
It must be nice to have a job in which you get paid no matter what you do.
First, your conclusion about Doctor’s salaries is based on your assumption that “a Doctor sees maybe twenty patients a day, fails to cure most of them and dispenses a few pills at the direction of large drug companies??? I’m sure you have solid research to back that assumption up.
Second, there are many Union Leadership staff members who do not have the power that you describe, and yet bring home as much or more than many MDs.
Third, if Union leaders’ salaries are immaterial to me, then Doctor’s salaries are immaterial to you, as you can choose to not go see a doctor. I encourage you to try that option.
You see, this discussion and dozens more like it show that it is you who is bitter about virtually everything, and it is your arguments that are childish immature rants mixed with bile, which prove nothing other than hate, hate for everything about doctors and those that make more money than you (except for your cherished Union leaders) or who think differently than you. You truly long for a Socialist State, don’t you?
Please be sure to share your opinion with your VA doctor next time you see him/her, who BTW, makes 90% of a private Family Practice physician. Perhaps they will prescribe you some anti-psychotic pills.
Now you’re projecting Hollywhatevertoday, just who are these “union leadership staff members” you think you know so much about. I’ll be they are just more of your imagination and fantasy based on hatred and nothing more.
Doctors salaries are material to me because members of my family see civilian Doctors and pay for private healthcare premiums.
If my estimate of twenty patients a day is erroneous then tell me the correct number. I’m sure you know.
And I have shared my views on some civilian Doctors with my primary care giver and you would shudder to hear their answers, they are much harder than me on what they see as abuse of the “for profit” system.
It’s not my job to find credible sources for the numbers that you make up. I don’t disagree with the 20 patients/day number, but the misdiagnosis rate is not over 50%, as you imply. Closer to single digits, depending on the source.
And I already provided the link regarding the union leadership and staffers – obviously you did not look at it. Not fantasy and hatred, but cold, hard facts. Here are only 2 excerpts:
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. At the union’s Maryland headquarters near Washington, 34 officers and employees earn over $200,000 in salary and benefits.
United Food & Commercial Workers has 17 headquarters officers and employees who earn over $200,000. The president, Joseph T. Hansen, received $360,737 in pay and benefits in 2009. The union drew criticism from members in 2004 for paying outgoing president Douglas Dority $709,000 in salary and benefits and for keeping retired officers on the payroll with six-figure salaries. At the time, more than 250 UFCW employees across the country were being paid more than $100,000.
So the question remains, “Is it an enormous fat paycheck if you are intelligent, and invest 10 years of your life, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to be an MD (and work to save people’s lives), but not if you are a union leader or work on that person’s staff?”
Stick yourself with a fork, you’re done.
… he said to himself.