(April 20, 2017) Michael Franklin, Atlantic General Hospital president and CEO, presented a community update concerning the institution’s upcoming goals during a Snow Hill Council meeting last Tuesday.
In 2014, Maryland’s all-payer hospital system modernization model was approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a five-year pilot program with the federal government.
“[Through] that new waiver relationship between the state and federal government, Maryland is allowed to have an experiment going that makes us different than every other state in the country,” Franklin said. “They’re going to double down on it in a couple of years when this experiment runs out.”
Franklin said hospitals had used a provider-centric delivery system that focused on testing for ailments and treating once discovered, which created a constant back and forth between patients and hospitals.
“The new model is based on how to work in communities to prevent illness where we can,” he said. “How do we manage chronic illness and illnesses we can’t prevent … how do we become more efficient in how we deliver health care when people show up in the hospital.”
The overarching goal is to helping patients avoid a medical crisis, Franklin said.
“If we can potentially prevent them from coming to the hospital or the emergency room, or moving into an institutional based level of care, then we can reduce the cost of health care overall,” he said. “We can make people healthier.”
While certain variables, such as family history or genetics, are impossible to impact, Franklin said the focus should be on environmental and social factors.
“How do we deal with having access to fresh fruits for people who may be in what are designated as food deserts, or people who may be food insecure,” he said. “How do we deal with those types of environmental and social factors to keep people from relying on McDonalds as their source of food choices because it’s low cost and easy to get to.”
The largest contributors to health problems are personal behaviors, Franklin noted.
“Things like smoking, dietary habits, lack of exercise, those type of things are huge contributors to what drives up health care costs,” he said. “For us it’s about working in the community.”
Franklin also said AGH is looking to invest more than $35 million in upgrades over the next five years through its new “Campaign for the Future.”
“Of that $35 million were hoping to raise $10 million from our community to help offset costs,” he said.
In addition to a proposed 18,000-square-foot regional cancer care center; AGH’s campaign will focus on comprehensive women’s health, modernizing the patient-care areas and surgical facilities, in addition to expanding the emergency room and outpatient services.
“The emergency room last year saw almost 30,000 patients and were sized for about 25,000 to 30,000 patient visits,” he said.
Franklin said the fiscal picture for the new cancer center was coming into focus.
“The governor’s budget that was passed last week included a $681,000 grant to help us build this facility,” he said. “In Worcester County we have about 450 new cancer cases diagnosed every year.”
Franklin said groundbreaking for the center would occur in about two months.
“My purpose in coming is to share what we’re doing at the hospital and letting you know the changes that are going to be happening in the near future,” he said.
In 2014, Maryland’s all-payer hospital system modernization model was approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a five-year pilot program with the federal government.
“[Through] that new waiver relationship between the state and federal government, Maryland is allowed to have an experiment going that makes us different than every other state in the country,” Franklin said. “They’re going to double down on it in a couple of years when this experiment runs out.”
Franklin said hospitals had used a provider-centric delivery system that focused on testing for ailments and treating once discovered, which created a constant back and forth between patients and hospitals.
“The new model is based on how to work in communities to prevent illness where we can,” he said. “How do we manage chronic illness and illnesses we can’t prevent … how do we become more efficient in how we deliver health care when people show up in the hospital.”
The overarching goal is to helping patients avoid a medical crisis, Franklin said.
“If we can potentially prevent them from coming to the hospital or the emergency room, or moving into an institutional based level of care, then we can reduce the cost of health care overall,” he said. “We can make people healthier.”
While certain variables, such as family history or genetics, are impossible to impact, Franklin said the focus should be on environmental and social factors.
“How do we deal with having access to fresh fruits for people who may be in what are designated as food deserts, or people who may be food insecure,” he said. “How do we deal with those types of environmental and social factors to keep people from relying on McDonalds as their source of food choices because it’s low cost and easy to get to.”
The largest contributors to health problems are personal behaviors, Franklin noted.
“Things like smoking, dietary habits, lack of exercise, those type of things are huge contributors to what drives up health care costs,” he said. “For us it’s about working in the community.”
Franklin also said AGH is looking to invest more than $35 million in upgrades over the next five years through its new “Campaign for the Future.”
“Of that $35 million were hoping to raise $10 million from our community to help offset costs,” he said.
In addition to a proposed 18,000-square-foot regional cancer care center; AGH’s campaign will focus on comprehensive women’s health, modernizing the patient-care areas and surgical facilities, in addition to expanding the emergency room and outpatient services.
“The emergency room last year saw almost 30,000 patients and were sized for about 25,000 to 30,000 patient visits,” he said.
Franklin said the fiscal picture for the new cancer center was coming into focus.
“The governor’s budget that was passed last week included a $681,000 grant to help us build this facility,” he said. “In Worcester County we have about 450 new cancer cases diagnosed every year.”
Franklin said groundbreaking for the center would occur in about two months.
“My purpose in coming is to share what we’re doing at the hospital and letting you know the changes that are going to be happening in the near future,” he said.