HEALTHCARE IN BUSINESS: Healthcare Accessibility - Is It Still Available?

Healthcare In Business with Ruth Lycke

Last month we talked about cost shifting and how much a company and employees can bear. This month we’ll endeavor to answer the question, “Is medical healthcare accessibility still available?”

• Time to get care
• Number of people insured
• British healthcare exposed
• Canadian wait times
• Number of physicians
• Nursing profession shortages
• Costs relating to accessibility

Lets start by taking into consideration the time it takes to make an appointment when needing to see a specialist. Would you believe 4 months? According to the Fraser Institute the average wait time to go from a general practitioner to a specialist was 17.3 weeks in 2008 before adding 47.3 million people to the insurance rolls with the healthcare bill passed in 2010. That’s up from 11.9 weeks in 1997 and with healthcare passage it is now projected to get worse.

In the UK they must see you within 4 hours of your calling so when they are backed up they simply stop answering the phone. Great solution, right? In Canada the average wait time to see a physician in an ER varies from 10 to 25 hours. Now consider that in the US there are over 119.5 million ER visits annually and that is expanding. Over 25% of all US based physicians are from foreign countries with limited time to practice in the US before returning to their country of origin. In spending countless hours researching physician forecasts and projected shortages I am amazed that the only conclusion they arrive at is, there is no single accepted approach to forecasting physician requirements. They all seem to attempt to identify the current and emerging trends. The fact that they try not to disclose is that there are fewer numbers of physicians entering the workforce in the US and increasing number retiring and leaving practice. Combine that with the growing 8.1% RN vacancy rate and there are definite problems looming for healthcare accessibility.

If you take a look at the following chart you will see the winners in bold black and the losers in bold red. It is amazing to see that we as a nation lose in 5 out of 8 categories and only win in one. Where we pay the most and expect to have the best care and life expectancy we actually loose. It is no wonder that emerging and small businesses are caught in a quandary trying to anticipate costs while their employees are trying desperately to gage the benefits that they really have.

Country	Life expectancy	Infant mortality rate	Physicians per 1000 people	Nurses per 1000 people	Per capita expenditure on health (USD)	Healthcare costs as a percent of GDP	% of government revenue spent on health	% of health costs paid by government
Australia	81.4	4.2	2.8	9.7	3,137	8.7	17.7	67.7
Canada	81.3	4.5	2.2	9.0	3,895	10.1	16.7	69.8
France	81.0	4.0	3.4	7.7	3,601	11.0	14.2	79.0
Germany	79.8	3.8	3.5	9.9	3,588	10.4	17.6	76.9
Japan	82.6	2.6	2.1	9.4	2,581	8.1	16.8	81.3
Sweden	81.0	2.5	3.6	10.8	3,323	9.1	13.6	81.7
UK	79.1	4.8	2.5	10.0	2,992	8.4	15.8	81.7
US	78.1	6.9	2.4	10.6	7,290	16.0	18.5	45.4

In meeting with HR department heads of small, medium, and even large businesses we continually see that they are being challenged to consider accessibility as a factor within benefits offered and guidelines they must meet.

Now an increasing number of patients are being seen in ER’s to cut wait times in clinics. With an increasing number of physicians entering retirement or choosing to leave healthcare practice because of new laws, seeking to change the rules of in-network care versus out of network is a valid consideration and choice. Knowing that there are options that can increase your available options, accessibility, and outcome is worth the time it takes a small or large business owner or an HR staffer to have a third party evaluate the access of current costs, offerings, and options.


For more information, please visit Ruth's TNNWC Bio.

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HEALTHCARE IN BUSINESS: Have We Given Up Too Much Control?

Healthcare In Business with Ruth Lycke

With the healthcare reform that was pushed through congress this spring and the recent announcement by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the cost of this reform will top 1 trillion dollars is there any wonder that we doubt what we are told?

“Small businesses” we were assured, would be the “winners” with promises that the government would step in and lower healthcare costs while increasing access to medical services. This causes me to ask two questions: When have new government rules and regulations on business ever improved service? And when have government panels and boards ever decreased business costs?

As the CEO of a growing company I am constantly assessing the cost of doing business. The expense of retaining or replacing employees historically has been one of the more flexible costs of operation. As a business owner I must focus on:

• Cost of salaries and wages
• Current minimum wage
• Full time versus part time employees
• Vacation days
• Sick days
• State benefit requirements
• Tax liability
• State
• Federal
• FICA
• Unemployment Insurance
• Workman’s compensation
• Health Insurance
• Retirement or pension plans

As the head of a healthcare company that serves others I am held to a higher standard. In order to grow my organization and influence I must be constantly aware of the things that motivate or challenge the employees of the businesses that we serve. The healthcare reform bill that was passed and signed into law has caused small and growing businesses to look hard at their choices for the future. The new liabilities and requirements that have been thrust on them in this 2500 page monstrosity has created more confusion and brought more questions than it answered. I was appalled when the speaker of the house suggested that it needed to be passed so we could find out what was in it. Now that it’s law we are still trying to decipher the contents and meaning.

I’ll apologize in advance because my frustration reaches its peak when private sector jobs and businesses are replaced with government jobs, panels and boards. We’ve been told that by 2014, the states must establish Small Business Health Options Programs (SHOP Exchanges) where small businesses can join together to buy insurance. Surprise! You can do this now in the private sector and it doesn’t cost the taxpayer a thing.

I spend each day being concerned with the healthcare challenges that corporate clients and individuals face. I have directed my time to being their healthcare expert so they can focus on their business. I concentrate my energies on patient outcomes, affordability, accessibility and safety, so they don’t have to. Unlike government entities that simply exist and waste tax dollars doing it… I only get paid and obtain more clients if I meet their needs, decrease costs and improve affordability, accessibility and safety. In the months to come I will help you look carefully at the changes and choices you are facing and I will try and help you navigate the healthcare jungle. Next month I will begin a series on Healthcare in Business and we welcome your opinions and questions.


For more information, please visit Ruth's TNNWC Bio.

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