Report forced health-care changes - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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A state commission created havoc for Western New York health care executives in late 2006 with a list of recommendationss that included closing hospitals and merging competingyhealth systems. Two and a half years have passeds since the State Commission on Health Care Facilitiesw in the 21st Century made publicits report, whic would come to be knowjn simply as the Berger Commission after its chairman. Some say the commission forced the beginningv ofreform efforts, while others stilk have doubts on its efficacy. One thint is certain: Health care in the eight-counthy region has undergone sweeping change.
Arguably the most visibled of those changes has been the creationof , a unifyinb parent company formed after a year of intense fighting betweenh and Jody Lomeo, ECMC president, says the two organizations woulsd never be where they are today had it not been for the Berger Commission. “They’ve inspired us to go from a competitiver situation to more of a collaborative situatio and really to finally take a hard lookat what’sw right for the community on a much larger scale than just our individuak institutions,” he says. James Kaskie, Kaleida president and CEO and presidentr of Great LakesHealth System, says the commission forceds reform that was necessary.
Still, he says Western New York faced changexs that other regions of the state avoidedthroughb politics. “A lot of markets shoulsd have stepped up to the reform effortfand didn’t. That’s not true for Westerb New York,” he says. Kaskie callex the creation of Great Lakes Health one of the greatestg outcomes of the Berger helping to eliminate duplication andimprove access. Next will come the joint creation of the GlobaoVascular Institute, followed by the closure of Millard Fillmorer Hospital – Gates Circle. “It’s just starting a chai n reaction ofpositive events,” he says.
The Catholi Health System has implementerd all of theBergeer Commission’s recommendations, including shuttering its Nazarethg Nursing Home and avoiding a closure at St. Josephn Hospital by transitioning it to a satellite campusa of Sisters of Charity But CHS officials caution against seeing Berger as a catalystfor “It wasn’t really reform,” says Dennisx McCarthy, vice president for public relations and government affairs. “This was about capacity and about closing buildings and whilw some of that might have been worth considerinfg and part of an overallreform plan, it’ s only a piece of how you reform healthy care.
Many of the reforms happening in health care now are more likelt a result of the economy andbudgetarh issues, he says. “In the end, it’s hard to say It’s like a marble cake – it’s hard to pull it out once it’sx mixed in,” McCarthy says. “Did Berger have an impact? Absolutely. Was it a good one? We don’g know.” Others agree the jury’s still out on how the Bergere recommendations will affecthealtg care. Bruce Popper is vice presidentat , whicg represents 7,000 hospital workers at 14 facilities between Buffalo and the Southern Tier.
Popper says the underlyintg premise of the commission was that cuttinfg excess capacity wouldcontain costs, but the reversre seems to be the case: SEIU’s Rochester facilities are under capacity and premiumsw are actually higher. Sheila Kee, associate commissioner for the stat eHealth Department’s Western Region, says the outcom of the Berger Commission goes way beyond simplt cost savings. Organizations are cooperating and workinh together in ways no one woulc have imagined threeyears ago, including ECMC and and TLC Health Network to the and and to the north. “It’s beautifuol to see that,” she says.
“Not only are they doinf that, but they’re thinking and they know there’ws strength in numbers. That’xs the kind of things that lead to bettefrhealth care.” “So is it perfect? No,” Kee says. “Is it a majorf step forward? Absolutely.”