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Health-care alliance
By COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Friday, March 02, 2007

WATERVILLE -- The people in charge of Maine's three largest health-care systems went on a road trip together Thursday, a joint venture on a day they announced a cooperative agreement that could save millions of dollars and greatly ease the transfer of patient information.

"One of the guiding principles we have used," MaineHealth President Bill Caron said at a news conference held at MaineGeneral Medical Center's Thayer Campus, "is how can we improve the care given to patients, and how can we improve the support we give to our doctors and staff."

The areas of cooperation identified by MaineHealth, MaineGeneral Health and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems are joint purchasing of materials and equipment, seamless sharing of patient information and a group approach to assessing and fighting chronic epidemic diseases, obesity and substance abuse.

Caron was joined at the conference table by Scott Bullock, president and chief executive officer of MaineGeneral Health, and Michelle Hood, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems president and CEO.

The trio had started the day in Falmouth for the first of three news conferences they had scheduled. The Waterville announcement came next, and the final one took place in Brewer.

MaineGeneral Health is the parent company of MaineGeneral Medical Center, which has campuses in Waterville and Augusta. Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems operates Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and also is affiliated with Inland Hospital in Waterville.

MaineHealth has several member hospitals, including Maine Medical Center in Portland, the state's largest hospital. MaineGeneral Health also is affiliated with MaineHealth.

Caron noted that together the three health-care systems represent about half the hospitals in Maine.

Bullock said the three systems saw cooperation as critical given the skyrocketing cost of health care and the reality that Maine's aging population and decreasing supply of physicians will put ever greater upward pressure on that cost.

"It is clear the cost of health care has been going up two times the rate of inflation for several years," he said, "so anything we can do to lower the cost of what we do should moderate that cost increase."

The three administrators stressed that they don't have hard numbers on how much could be saved.

Caron said the more detailed review that should lead to that information is just getting launched.

But Caron said that, generally speaking, the savings will be substantial.

"We do know it is more than hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said. "There are millions of dollars in savings out there."

As an example, Hood said that between 17 percent to 20 percent of the annual expenses each health-care system faces is consumed by materials.

Cut that cost by 2 or 3 percentage points, she said, and significant savings could be achieved -- MaineGeneral Health had total expenses of just over $300 million in 2006, according to its most recent financial statement.

The health-care group administrators acknowledged that their cooperative goals involve many considerations and challenges.

Caron said electronic sharing of patient information is not as simple as investing in needed technology. Great attention also must be paid, he said, to ensure that any medical information transferred is done with utmost adherence to privacy and confidentiality laws.

"It is a challenge," he said. "It would certainly be easier if we did not have those standards to consider."

Nevertheless, the three said they are committed to the initiative and plan to invite other Maine hospitals to join them in the effort, as well as expand their collaboration into other areas in time.

Collaboration and cooperation, however, does not mean Maine's health-care system will become one big family, they said.

"We will still compete with each other," Caron said. "We still have some overlapping markets."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com


Reader comments

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MissDaisy of Farmingdale, ME
Mar 2, 2007 12:06 PM
It is evident that something needs to be down to keep health costs down, however, it doesn't make sense to me that we are not doing more preventative testing so that the illness does not get out of control and at that time patients need expensive treatments to try to give them some quality of life and try to get them back on their feet again. Health Care Insurance Companies dictate to the to the care givers what and what not can be done for tests, PCP's have to get permission to do additional testing that might detect the illness before it gets out of control. If the State of Maine has the percentage of obesity that they say we do why don't they have more paid for (by insurance providers) programs to reduce the potential illness that go along with it??? One excellent idea these meetings shared is the joint purchasing of supplies and equipment. report abuse
Sheila Evans of Chelsea, ME
Mar 2, 2007 11:25 AM
Increasing the cigarette tax will provide more savings, the Health Care Alliance can spell out for everyone how much is saved when there are fewer smokers.report abuse

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