Deanco Healthcare has made great strides in improving the quality of care at Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City. Cutting wait times in the emergency room, investing millions in high-tech medical equipment and convincing physicians to bring surgery cases to the 145-bed hospital is no easy feat. It’s downright impressive. The hospital was in such a financial mess before Deanco swooped in 18 months ago that one can only guess where it would be without the hospital operator’s help. But Deanco is likely to win a prize for all of its hard work— the state’s blessing to buy the hospital and turn it into a for-profit facility. That will push out those in the community who have nowhere else to turn. And it’s a slippery slope, especially in today’s health care environment. It’s not that Deanco is the so-called bad guy — the company’s running the hospital like any good business; officials say they will continue serving indigents and the like. But once the hospital operator is out from under the state’s scrutiny, those needy patients will be pushed to the sidelines, maybe not immediately, but over time. That is, if Deanco follows in the footsteps of many other for-profit hospitals. For-profit hospitals tend to specialize in more lucrative medical fields as rehabilitation, plastic surgery and cardiology. It’s hard to think Deanco wouldn’t do the same with a fancy machine such as the O-arm, which is a significant enhancement to its advanced orthopedic and spine program. After all, only about 200 hospitals nationwide have used the O-Arm since it hit the market in 2003, according to the product’s developer. Deanco and Mission must strive to strike a balance in their approach to health care. Mission Community’s brand new CEO, James Theiring, appears aligned with the Deanco’s vision and committed to serving a wide range of patients. He told the Business Journal: “We still have a mission to serve the community. But as we grow the commercial business and our Medicare and Medi-Cal business, the uncompensated care costs should go down as a percentage of the total. What we want to do is grow those other things, so we can support that better.” As long as the hospital can balance its responsibilities to remain financially sound and to support those who need it most, then in our view this hospital is doing its job. Business Journal Editor Jaclyn Giovis can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected]
Area Hospital Must Balance Financial and Patient Responsibilities
