Assess the needs of our community before building a hospital

It doesn’t make sense to build a 16-bed hospital when the average daily census is two or three. That is a little over 10 percent utilization of the space. A business would go broke fast if they only stocked 10 percent of their shelves. And yet, the hospital board wants us to believe that a new 16-bed hospital is just what this community needs.

The trend is not toward inpatient stays, but away from them.  People are often sent home the day after surgery, whether they are ready or not.  Most surgeries are done as outpatient. Urgent Care and 24-hour walk-in care are replacing emergency room visits.  Care revolves around the patient, and not the other way around.  Mental health and medical issues are addressed at the same time.  This is the trend health care is taking.

The reality in Hot Springs County, whether the hospital board wants to believe it or not, is that many people in this town already “drive to another town” to receive health care.  Many people are caring for very ill friends or relatives.  Caregivers who have few services to help them, other than their own immediate support system.

True, the current building has lost its use as a hospital.  It is very well built and not flexible enough to change with the times. But do we need a hospital that is a new version of the old one? This is what the current Master Plan shows, and where the hospital board is headed.

The management company is paid for the contract to manage, and the hospital pays the salary of the CEO (who is HealthTech’s employee). It takes about $750,000 a year to keep the corporation of HealthTech in town. What bang are we getting for our buck?

Let’s hold a forum with the Billings Clinic to see what they have to say. The Clinic manages the hospital’s computer system, so they are already familiar with us.  They also offer some of the highest-quality, lowest costing health care in the country.

Rather than throw up a building and call it health care, it would be better to assess the needs of our community and offer services we can use, and build the building around that. 

I am independent of both the hospital and the PAC.

Carol Pickett