Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408160005
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: 50 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
EKG, IV, M.D., ICU, OB/GYN.
In June, the murky broth got even thicker.
Roanoke Valley, meet HMOs, the newest addition to the health care soup.
Health maintenance organizations, managed care programs that typically provide less expensive health insurance to patients who are restricted to using member physicians, were introduced to Western Virginia early in June in the form of a partnership between Carilion Health System and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia.
Under the agreement, tentatively set to begin in January, Carilion will provide health care through its 13 Southwestern Virginia hospitals and affiliated physicians, and the Blues, now called Trigon, will provide insurance, sales and administrative support. All Carilion facilities, including Roanoke Memorial and Community hospitals, will participate in this HMO.
Word of a second HMO for Western Virginia came the next day, when the nonprofit Blue Ridge Regional Health Care Coalition announced the arrival of Heritage National Healthplan, a product of Illinois-based John Deere Health Care Inc. Heritage has not yet done business with the Carilion group of hospitals or with Carilion competitor Lewis-Gale Hospital. According to Roanoke Memorial spokeswoman Salley Ramey, Carilion has been in active discussion with Heritage, but no date has been set for a final decision.
The back-to-back announcements changed considerably the health care landscape of Western Virginia, a region that previously had been the largest metropolitan area in the United States without an HMO. Talk of additional HMOs continues, although details remain sketchy.
The dedication in May of a nine-story, 336,000-square-foot addition to Roanoke Memorial Hospital also has brought change and growth to the valley's medical community. The $50 million addition, which includes a rooftop helicopter touchpad, increased the size of the hospital's Trauma I medical center from 5,000 to 30,000 square feet. The 677-bed hospital also expanded its cardiac care facilities and intensive care units.
Like Roanoke Memorial, Community Hospital of the Roanoke Valley is a member of the Carilion network. The hospital is home to the Carilion Center for Women and Children, whose birthing center handles all deliveries for the two Carilion hospitals.
Community, located on Elm Avenue in Southeast Roanoke, includes a Trauma II center, which handles emergency cases not serious enough for transfer to Roanoke Memorial's Trauma I unit.
Lewis-Gale Hospital, a 406-bed facility owned by Columbia Health Care Association, earlier this year upgraded its regional rehabilitation center to include a computerized driving simulator that lets patients test their response times as they work through rehabilitation. The simulator may be used alone or in conjunction with the hospital's Easy Street unit, which allows patients to practice navigating through replica grocery stores, cafes and other buildings.
Lewis-Gale also provides heart diagnostic and treatment services along with laser surgery, orthopedics and women's health programs. Its Regional Cancer Center, affiliated with the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, offers radiation therapy and support groups.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem is a 530-bed facility that provides acute and primary care for veterans. Once devoted primarily to the treatment of psychiatric disorders, the hospital now provides services including kidney dialysis, orthopedics and cardiac catheterization. A full-time eye surgeon joined the staff this year.
The hospital is renovating an existing building for conversion into a nursing home unit. The center also offers a child-care center on site for employees, making it the first VA medical center in the country to provide both adult and child day care.
Gill Memorial Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, also part of the Carilion Health System, is a 19-bed facility that performs some 2,500 procedures - the majority of them outpatient - a year. It also houses the regional office of the Old Dominion Eye Bank, which recovers corneas for transplants.
The Lewis-Gale Clinic, located on the grounds of the Lewis-Gale Hospital, is an independent physician-owned group practice, the largest in the state. Its 135 doctors offer care in 28 specialties at the main clinic and at satellite clinics across the Roanoke Valley.
Located in the Lewis-Gale Hospital complex, the Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center is the largest private facility in the region devoted to psychiatric and chemical dependency disorders. With 145 beds, the center provides both in- and outpatient services for adults and adolescents.
The Mount Regis Center in Salem is a 25-bed facility for the treatment of alcoholism and drug dependency. It also offers inpatient and outpatient marital and career counseling services.
by CNB