Show Rural hospitals usually can't support themselves The communities they serve often can't support a physician Last year Intermountain Health Care subsidized 9 of our 14 rural hospitals in the amount of $2 7 million can W8 afford to continue providing rural health care? can ve afford not to? often costs as mi ch or more to care for patients in rural hospitals” Finally physicians (who are generally responsible for admitting patients to hospitals) are finding it difficult to make a living in rural communities “The small population obviously means fewer patients However the real problem facing doctors is the skyrocketing cost of malpractice insurance” Schricker says hospitals send along to hospitals that can provide more sophisticated care In 1986 IHC’s rural facilities referred more than 4800 IHC patients to facilities “It is important to understand that just by the virtue of geography ana location most of those patients would come to our facilities anyway Maintaining hospitals in these rural areas is evidence of our commitment to bring immediate affordable care to people in the rural areas we serve” Schricker says “IHC has pledged continued support to the rural communities we serve” Re went leave a cfflmnynRy fo? fcracttf reasons: “Time and community support will be the test for our rural facilities” says Schricker “However IHC will never simply close a rural hospital witnout making other arrangements to provide services to the community” This may mean providing more outpatient care making outreach services from larger hospitals more accessible establishing clinics and other options “IHC will never leave a community for financial reasons” he Schricker says unequivocally RSust Bresk “We’ve come to the RUTGl HffSffSirM Era: stark realization that we can’t increase the amount of our subsidy to our rural facilities” he says “Currently the subsidy covers mainly capital costs We can’t expand it to include operational costs like On Oct 13 1986 a young woman working at a gas station in Fillmore Utah was shot in the head by a teenager He stole $17 worth of gas soda pop and cigarettes The woman was eight months pregnant at the time customer found the woman a few minutes later She was rushed to rural hospital the on the other side of town where a skilled physician A 20-be- d ‘That’s just one example the importance of rural of health care” says J Louis Schricker Jr MD neurosurgeon and charter member of tne IHC board of trustees “Approximately 20 percent of the people we serve in Utah diagnosed and stabilized her The physician called Utah Valley Regional Medi- cal Center in Provo to arrange for further care She arrived by ambulance in just over an hour Her healthy son was delivered by cesarean section at 10 pm and she spent the next nine and a half hours in surgery She and her baby were both released from the hospital two weeks later Her only lasting reminder of the ordeal is a slight hearing loss Idaho and Wyoming live in sparsely populated rural areas And when these people need emergency care the long straight roads between cities and towns seem to stretch forever” S ihg Construction Protects Boost Utah Economy 300 $300 million in IHC hospital construction 250 200- -j $185 million in wages 150 100 $60 million in supplies 50- Since its inception in 1975 through 1989 major IHC hospital construction projects will have cost more than $300 million Those projects alone salaries and supplies” Part of the subsidy IHC provides to its rural hospitals is offset by the patients those K£f0fKXrsKCS££SS3m Rural AltSS: “More than half of Intermountain Health Care’s hospitals are rural hospitals In addition we have 25 rural primary care clinics that allow physicians to hold office hours in small communities so the residents don’t have to travel long distances for routine care” Schricker Earlier this month we ' sold our software division continues IHC’s rural facilities I IHC Affiliated Services Inc serve approximately (ASI) to GTE Information 380000 people in 16 rural Systems As a result $10 counties in Utah I million was transferred southeast Idaho and directly to the IHC southwest Wyoming I Foundation to help fund our Eight of our 14 rural charitable community health hospitals are the county’s care services only hospital ‘The software developed TIM EKatt and Poor I by our programmers was excellent and we marketed it increase Rural Burden: t to the hospital industry to “Because a higher recoup some of the money it percentage of rural took to develop it” says below the Americans live and level are being William N Jones board poverty chairman hard hit by the current The growth of (he economic downturn our division far exceeded original rural hospitals are seeing an increasing need for char plans We were servicing more than 150 hospitals ity care” Schricker says across the country from communities Rural are also home to an increasing jroportion of elderly jeople who often suffer rom multiple ongoing lealth problems "While their needs are great a (4 large percentage of the rural elderly are poor or live on fixed incomes and can’t afford care” he conGrowing out of tinues "Medicare pays childhood and becoming lower fees to rural faciliis no easy trip adult an ties than it pays to urban Every adolescent makes facilities even though it Sale of IHC Division Will 1 Benefit Needy ‘ 'S account for an estimated $185 million in wages to area construction workers and $60 million in building supplies to area businesses j jL s' 11' non-rur- stresses offices in eight major cities ' “Our focus needs to remain on the Intermountain region and continued J development would have required additional resources” says Jones “So i we decided to sell the j division and use the proceeds to fulfill that portion of our mission relating to medical care for those with limited funds” 1 The sale price for ASI was not disclosed but after repaying debt and meeting other financial obligations IHC was able to donate $10 million to the IHC Foundation This will be invested and the proceeds will help fund our free and low-cos- t j ' ! medical services to uninsured people in the region These services low-incom- : e will include those provided in our hospitals and cutreach clinics wrong turns and runs into roadblocks And to some teenagers life seems like a dead end and all they want is out When teenagers talk about suicide chances are they mean it Listen Get help from a doctor Otherwise they might just decide not to make the trip —Wasatch Canyons Hospital ‘ |