— from Meg Massey —
Voting yes for the Public Hospital District (PHD) is not a vote for University of Washington Medicine (UW).
If the PHD passes, elected commissioners will be able to renegotiate and correct anything in the initial UW contract that hasn’t gone smoothly. They may well consider the overall price tag. Yes, it’s possible that UW won’t accept the commissioners’ new conditions and will bow out.
And if the PHD fails to pass, UW will, without doubt, leave Orcas. And count on it: no other provider will step in to replace it. Without a PHD and therefore a predictable, sustainable source of assistance to cover the inevitable deficits incurred by rural providers, no medical provider can afford to bring primary and urgent care to Orcas. The financial risks are just too big, given the real costs of medicine today.
But with a PHD in place, commissioners will have the means to attract other primary and urgent care providers and can contract with a different provider.
I’ve heard some say that we’ve been fine without a PHD and don’t need one. The notion leaves a few facts out.
- Island Hospital left because it incurred unsustainable losses outside their own (Skagit) Public Hospital District.
- Dr. Shinstrom has stated publicly that his practice cannot continue without PHD support.
- The Medical Center has not been self-sustaining and cannot survive without a PHD. The Medical Center has stayed alive thus far only because a very small group of people with very deep pockets donated hundreds of thousands of dollars EVERY YEAR. Some of those very generous individuals are no longer with us. The others are not required to underwrite us.
So let’s not kid ourselves, without a PHD we will lose our access to day to day local, primary and urgent medical care. With the PHD in place, commissioners will have the financial leverage to negotiate with UW. Or the commissioners can use that leverage to attract and negotiate with other urgent and primary car practices.
Vote for the commissioners you consider best prepared for the job. Equipped with a voter approved Public Hospital District, they will have real leverage at the bargaining table.
It just seems that UW is the same as Island Hospital in many ways. They have the OMF tied in knots with the contract. Why do we think the PHD will be able to negotiate a better one? Just seems like propaganda to say it will get better without substantiated evidence. UW dictated theirs terms to this point. Seems like PHD will have no options going forward. Not saying vote for or against. Just think about it.
To answer the above question, as has been explained several times in great detail before, I’ll try to explain briefly and more simply:
1) Island Hospital left because they were losing money, and they had no way of increasing revenues to offset the cost of providing medical services.
2) OMF had no leverage because there is not a PHD to provide sustainable funding to cover the gap between service revenue and the cost of providing those services.
3) UW will also lose money if there is no PHD, and could dictate the terms of the contract with OMF because there is no source of sustainable funding to cover the UW shortfall.
However, if the PHD is approved, then the commissioners of the PHD WILL HAVE the leverage to improve a contract with ANY medical service provider(s), UW or not UW.
The propaganda that is being thrown around is the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) that those opposed to the PHD base their arguments around.
Things will CERTAINLY get better if the PHD is approved, as there will be, for the first time in Orcas history, a sustainable source of funding to support the SHORTFALL GAP between revenue from medical services and the cost of providing those services, which IS THE ONLY THING HISTORY HAS SHOWN US IS A RECURRING YEAR AFTER YEAR FACT.
Any other argument from those opposed to the PHD is FUD propaganda which is either blatantly false and/ or ignores the the issues and problems related to medical services on Orcas which have gotten worse and worse over the years, which problems end up costing all residents of Orcas more than the PHD Levy in off-island trips, loss of job and school time, and health risks/issues which result in more costly treatment.
Please join me and others who want to improve the availability and provision of medical services on Orcas by voting FOR the PHD, and voting for the commissioners you feel will do the best job for us going forward with the PHD.
Ironic. FUD.