Letter to the Editor
FMH and the CON
Published Friday, March 28, 2008
March 25, 2008
To the editor:
The editorials I have seen supporting the certificate of need, including the most recent one by Dr. McGregor, come down to one compelling argument.
Without CON, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital will absorb of the no pay, have fewer paying and a higher number of Medicare/Medicaid patients This would critically impair FMH quality delivery/expansion.
However, Dr. Cobden, chief of medical staff for FMH, has stated no pays represent less than 2 percent of the revenue, far lower than imagined.
That said, I believe we have the finest hospital in the country for our size and isolation. We owe that to a brilliant board, generous community, highly profitable delivery, state funds and non-profit tax benefits.
If this is truly a community hospital, we need to know why FMH sends excess profits back to parent Banner Health instead of giving it to the borough to lower all our property taxes. I begrudge no one’s profits. They are the reason we have a first class hospital, always expanding to meet community needs (e.g. the incredible new cancer and cardiac centers). But I also believe strongly in free enterprise and oppose monopolies caused simply by an outdated state regulation. The federal government no longer requires CON, leaving it to the states; and even in Alaska we have reversed it in both Anchorage and Wasilla. Why not in Fairbanks, where there is clear need for additional outpatient surgical clinics?
The delays at FMH are extremely long and the costs so much higher that one union flies all its members to Anchorage because it is cheaper, including airfare.
We need to find a compromise in Fairbanks that does not damage FMH and allows free enterprise to dictate market conditions. My suggestion, which I believe has been proposed, is to require the business plan for any new clinic to include specific and fair percentages of no pays, and any Medicare/Medicaid patients who want treatment there.
Personally, I will continue to support FMH, and forever Dr. McGregor, but I do believe free enterprise should not be just the right of Anchorage, and the need in Fairbanks for choices exists.
Comments
The CON is equivalent to price fixing. The FMH is akin to theft and they certainly do not want anyone else in on the pie. The entire health system is this way.
Remember, if you've been around awhile, that the hospital was largely built with donations. I did almost a years work on it free. When it became profitable it was turned over to outside interests for "management". Downhill ever since.
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ecray, i bet it was the moron who thought we were the same person about a week ago. big idiot probably thought he/she was being cute by changing the "c" to a "k". I must admit, it was so clever I think a 4 year old could of done it.
As far as the CON, you want to say any new surgery suite will be solely for the purpose of relieving the "extremely long" wait to have surgery? I say as soon as Dr. Cobden or Dr. Wade finish building their new suites, they'll charge just as much as FMH does for surgery. They'll say something like, "prices are temporarily raised to cover construction costs...for 25 years". They'll charge more and get away with it, because we would be willing to let them get away with it.
If you think the list is long for surgery at FMH, it's probably because your surgery is not necessary and can wait. Turns out people on the brink of death need those rooms before you can have your plastic surgery.
The imaging center charged much less than FMH for the same services....before FMH shut them down.
FMH didn't shut anyone down. The state did because the center didn't even apply for a CON.
They didn't apply because the State told them a CON was not needed for their center. The State only shut them down after Banner Health filed a lawsuit against the imaging center. After what are neighbors for if not to sue you for offering a service in the community.
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