THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510180142
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Managed care is the buzz word in the health care business, and a newly renovated outpatient surgery wing shows that Obici Hospital is listening.
Managed health care - generally involving insurance companies managing health care of many workers for employers - strives to quickly handle a higher volume of patients at lower costs.
William C. Giermak, Obici's chief executive officer for the past eight years, calls the new wing ``one-stop shopping.''
The challenge is balancing care with lesser money. Said Giermak: ``We're having to operate with decreased cost allotments. While costs continue to rise, you still have a higher level of care.''
When Obici finishes the $300,000 renovations, outpatient surgery will have its own entrance on the opposite side of the building from the main entrance. With 46 doctors, 17 nurses and 12 administrative and technical staffers, the outpatient wing served about 33,000 patients last year.
In most instances, what once was a three-day to weeklong stay is condensed to a one-day stay at the hospital. Patients can now have hysterectomies, orthoscopic surgeries and gall bladder incisions in a matter of hours, then return home.
``There used to be more surgeries. . . . The advancement of technology and the dictates of insurance companies have created more empty beds,'' said Giermak.
Indeed, Obici uses only 190 of its 222 beds, said officials.
Other local hospitals, including Chesapeake General and Sentara Bayside, have boosted their outpatient centers, designing them to offer some of the same conveniences as doctors' offices.
But there's a bottom line here: Money that an insurance company loses from unused beds is money saved in insurance reimbursement.
``Efficiencies will be gained over time which is expected to bring down costs,'' said Giermak of the wing.
To that end, patients aren't staying in the hospital long, including inpatient treatment areas.
For example, at Obici, a Medicare patient used to stay in the hospital nine days three years ago. The average stay is now seven days.
Yet Obici isn't yet at the top of the managed care game; other hospitals with higher volume and profits are getting the business. Giermak blames this more on the Suffolk hospital's location. Obici officials say 10 percent of its business comes from managed care companies. Obici's net revenue for 1996 is projected at $53 million.
``We're the only hospital in this particular service area, so it's probably not as competitive as other areas. It's a good fortune of geography more than anything,'' said Giermak.
But some physicians, like Obici's Dr. Jeff Persons, an orthopedic surgeon, warn that there's a thin line between balancing quick and cost efficient service with quality of health.
``Logistically, it makes things a lot easier for patients. It makes it easier for Obici to contract for services for insurance providers,'' said Persons.
But the downside, Persons said, is that managed care is gradually turning the health care industry into a business industry rather than a social service industry.
``There can be problems,'' said Persons, citing infections and other unexpected injuries that could occur once a patient goes home after a one-day surgery.
``Twenty-four hour deliveries don't always fit for one person,'' he said. But the advantage, he quickly adds, is the location of the outpatient surgery wing: ``It's nice to have a whole hospital backing you up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Registered nurse Lorreta Wiggs, left, prepares to give patient Dora
Outland some eye drops in the outpatient surgery wing at Obici
Hospital.
by CNB