
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 13, 1995                   TAG: 9505150050
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HEALTH CARE IN TURMOIL, GRADS TOLD

It may be hard to view change as opportunity, but health care workers have to do that, the executive director of the Joint Commission on Health Care told graduates of the College of Health Sciences on Friday night.

On the surface, the future health care market doesn't have the "warm and fuzzy image" generally associated with such services, said Jane Norwood Kusiak in her address to the school's largest class yet, 162 graduates.

Because of pressures on health care costs, the median length of stay in Virginia hospitals dropped more than 13 percent in the past year, she pointed out.

And the changes coming could be more revolutionary, Kusiak said.

New approaches to Medicare and Medicaid are going to place "an enormous burden" on the health care industry, she said.

The proposed $300 billion cut in Medicare is planned over a seven-year period, but the elderly population is projected to double in the next 15 years, she said.

"The true name of the game is covered lives. Purchasers, both public and private, want providers to demonstrate their effectiveness on the bases of cost and quality,'' she said.

In turn, providers are also "continually re-evaluating their bottom lines."

"The challenge for each of us in this time of change is to stay grounded, to understand how we can use our unique skills and energy to make a positive contribution to the delivery of health care," said the state policy analyst.

Thirteen students received awards for excellence in their fields of study. They were Laura Marie Ramey, Richard Vincent Sherwood, Barbara Breister, Michelle L. Reynolds, Jennifer Ashley Meyer and Amy Lynn Gordon, Roanoke; Leigh Anne Miller and Kevin McCajah Minix, Salem; Alvin Wayne Overstreet, Troutville; Matthew E. Laas, Blacksburg; Sherry Lynne Hairston, Bassett; and Lisa Kay Sutphin, Pulaski.

by CNB