As the healthcare industry spends billions on new and expanded facilities, hospitals are increasingly defending themselves against claims of wasteful spending, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
San Francisco, which leads the pack in hospital construction in the nation, has six hospitals underway, thanks to a state requirement to ensure hospitals are earthquake-ready. Construction projects in California could cost more than $250 billion, according to the article.
Although few can argue against the benefits of ensuring earthquake compliance, some worry that hospital improvements are wasteful and simply cater to luxury items to gain patients.
"There's a lot of wasteful competition," said Frank Sloan, a health policy professor at Duke University in Durham, N.C. "They feel like, to compete, ‘We've got to have the best and the latest.'"
UPMC East in Pennsylvania is scheduled to open next year as a 156-bed hospital with "hotel-like amenities," such as room service, based on the Ritz-Carlton customer service principles.
Construction supporters respond to criticism, arguing that hospital updates accommodate patient expectations of today's consumer.
However, there are other concerns about expanding facilities and what they will do to the market. For example, some worry that North Carolina's Mission Health System, in the midst of building a new medical facility, will create a market power in the area. The health system, which partnered with St. Joseph Hospital and acquired several physician practices over the years, says it actually lowers the costs of care.
"We can and should be criticized if we're wasteful or if we profligate, but the only reason why we're here is to try to care for the community the way we've done for the last century plus," Mission Health CEO Dr. Ron Paulus said in another Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article. "It's a reality that the total dollars are getting smaller, so we have to re-engineer ourselves. We have to lower our average cost of care. We have to find lower cost delivery settings ... because nobody is going to pay us anymore."
To learn more:
- read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article on medical building boom
- read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article on debate of new hospitals
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*Editor's Note: This article was edited for clarity on 12/19.