Health reform was and still is a question mark

Greater Des Moines business people are apprehensive about changes coming with federal reform provisions. During a panel discussion hosted in February by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, several Central Iowa business owners and employers voiced their concerns that federal mandates intended to lower health-care costs will actually drive up costs and end up costing them more money.

“There’s nothing that anyone has been able to demonstrate that bends the cost curve in (the health-reform act),” said Sean Yolish, vice president of benefits for Merit Resources Inc. Imposing more regulatory requirements upon small business owners will certainly drive up costs, he said.

Adding to the uncertainty, the Internal Revenue Service has postponed or reversed effective dates of regulations, said Alice Helle, a partner with the BrownWinick law firm. Terry Slinde, a leadership consultant, said afterwards he didn’t fully realize the complexity – not to mention the uncertainty – of the health-reform provisions until he attended the forum.

Six months later, the Business Record asked four health-care industry professionals to outline actions their organizations have taken to prepare for health-care reform.

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Branstad announces healthiest state initiative

In August, Gov. Terry Branstad joined state business leaders in announcing an ambitious public-private partnership to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation within the next five years.

As part of the initiative, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield pledged to provide up to $25 million over the next five years to lead an information campaign based on the Blue Zones Project, an initiative to improve health based on the experiences of the healthiest places in the world. Ten Iowa communities will be chosen through a competitive process to become Blue Zone communities to model those lifestyle changes.

Wellmark will use the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, an ongoing nationwide telephone survey, to measure the results of the initiative. Iowa was ranked 19th among the states in that index in 2010.

The initiative will focus on helping Iowans to make comprehensive lifestyle changes at a grassroots level, Branstad said. “This Healthiest State Initiative will assist Iowans in learning about and applying proven methods to live longer, happier and healthier lives,” Branstad said. The program could allow Iowa to save up to $16 billion in funding over the next five years, he noted, based on estimates of health-care cost savings and gains in productivity.

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Mercy’s Children Center gets $12 million rehab

This past fall, Mercy Medical Center – Des Moines was in the midst of the first phase of a $12 million renovation of the Children’s Center at Mercy.

Funded entirely from donations through the Mercy Foundation, the project includes an all-new 22-bed general pediatric unit, an eight-bed pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and a 10-bed flex unit that will accommodate either intensive care or general patients. The project also provides new support offices for pediatricians and staff, and a Ronald McDonald Family Room, which Mercy officials say is the first such in-hospital facility in the state.

Empty space created on the third floor when Mercy constructed the East Tower addition five years ago enabled the hospital to conduct the expansion in phases. The first phase, completed in October, is the new pediatric unit, with rooms large enough to accommodate two to three family members for overnight stays.

Work on the second phase of the project, the PICU, began as scheduled in November following the move of the general pediatric unit into the renovated space. The hospital has also begun construction of additional “flex” rooms that can be used by either intensive care or general pediatric patients. The entire project is expected to be completed by November 2012.

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