When we broke ground for the new hospital, we had a number of prominent speakers; one of which was Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. Congressman Bartlett's message at the time was obviously his canned health care speech for that period of time. Although it was not the best speech to give at the groundbreaking for a new state-of-the-art hospital, his message was very appropriate for today at WMHS. The message was that hospitals need to transition to a health care system that focuses on wellness and keeping patients out of the hospital. Again, not the best speech for our groundbreaking, but a timely message for today.
In the near future, hospitals will be incentivized or penalized based on the health of the population that they serve. That will be a tall order for WMHS based on the community health needs assessment results; however, a necessary aspect of what we do for our patients as we transition from volume-based care to value-based care.
Still not the best message for a groundbreaking as there wasn't a mention of our challenging history in bringing three hospitals together in Allegany County; the economic impact of a new hospital being built in our region ($226M of which almost $100M was spent locally on wages, equipment, services, etc.); the new services that would be provided nor what we mean to the region with our many services, including one of nine trauma centers in Maryland. So he missed the mark; his message was still visionary and ironic in that it fits so well with national health care reform of which the Congressman is not a proponent.
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