Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce

By Jennifer Lague

The monthly Eggs and Issues Conference run by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce (portlandregion.com) took place Thursday, February 6th at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. The speakers featured for the February meeting were: Eileen Skinner, the President and CEO of Mercy Health System based in Portland, Maine and Michelle Hood, the President and CEO of Eastern Maine Health Systems based in Brewer, Maine.

There is a merger currently taking place between these two health care providers. If you visit mercyhospital.org you will now see the words EMHS member underneath the Mercy logo. Mercy is a not-for-profit community health care system sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. The Sisters of Mercy are a Catholic organization that owns a thrift ship on Forest Avenue in Portland called the Good Cause Thrift Shop. The shop raises money for the financial aid program at Catherine McAuley High School, a private Catholic high school, as well as other various causes.Mercy Hospital has two locations in Portland. There is one hospital on State St. and another on the Fore River Parkway, which was built in 2008. Eileen mentioned that the economic recession of 2008 made that a tough year to build the new facility.

Mercy Hospital’s stated mission is “Mercy carries out the healing work of Christ by providing clinically excellent, compassionate health care for all, with special concern for the poor and disadvantaged.” Mercy is also a member of Catholic Health East, a multi institutional organization serving communities through regional health care systems in 11 eastern states from Maine to Florida.They are one of Maine’s largest employers and the only hospital to receive the Governor’s award for Business Excellence.Eastern Maine Health Systems (emhs.org) includes 8 hospitals, home healthcare and Emergency Ground to Air Transportation. Before arriving at EMHS, Michelle Hood was the President and CEO of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, Montana region as well as of its flagship hospital, St. Vincent Healthcare.

EMHS passed out a 40pg booklet which states that they are “working to eliminate the old barriers of individual competition in favor of sharing resources and learning from one another’s expertiese so we can better care for the people of Maine. Through Beacon Health (beaconhealth.org), EMHS has partnered with organizations statewide, opening the doors to more than 600 primary care providers in nearly 100 practices. This collaborative work aims to better coordinate the care people receive no matter their age, income, or where they live.”

Both women had some time to speak as we chose between a breakfast of spinach quiche with ham and potatoes, or a fruit tart dish. Eileen spoke about making healthcare affordable through the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare which went through Congress on March 23rd, 2010. Along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, it represents the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.

Obama care was enacted with the goals of increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance. The ACA continues to face challenges in Congress and federal

courts, and from certain state governments, conservative advocacy groups, and some small business organizations. The Tea Party movement members still believe that the law will lead to disruption of existing health plans, increased costs from new insurance standards and that it will increase the deficit. They view universal healthcare as a commodity to which people are not necessarily entitled.

Eileen gave us information about the last decade or so of struggles in the world of health care in Maine. She mentioned that cuts in Medicare and Medicaid were part of an effort to keep MaineCare funded but that it really wasn’t a good solution since so many Baby Boomers are now getting older. She warned that there still may be even more cuts in Medicare in the near future until ACA comes fully into effect. While the government has been trying to reduce its spending health insurance became almost solely the responsibility of employees. During the economic recession of 2008 there were less patients because there were less who could actually afford to see a doctor.

Michelle Hood spoke about EMHS struggling to keep updated with current technology for all its hospitals and about networking with other health care providers around the state of Maine. EMHS has been able to build a great network of health care providers successfully and Mercy Hospital is most fortunate to be now included in that track record of excellence. They already include 8 hospitals, 621 physicians and 9 nursing homes. Mercy Hospital, being a Catholic Organization, got approval from the Vatican before making this merger. While having coffee before the event I stumbled upon various different event

attendees and asked what they think about the merger that is taking place. Bill Hall from Martin’s Point Health Care was mostly positive about it and says that in such a situation you just want to make sure you look at your contract with the other provider and make sure they will take your patients and whether or not they will monopolize costs for care. It is important to assess how it will affect current revenue. So far, though, he has noticed that most mergers go well with both parties pleased with the results. I also spoke quickly with an employee of Bay State Financial Services who said that sometimes health care providers can lose patients who are taken aback by the merger. Sitting to my right was Chris Chapin of Dream Factory which is St. Louis’ version of Make-a-Wish Foundation. She is busily starting a branch in Portland. It costs them about $6000 for each wish that they grant for a critically ill child. They raise revenue by having events sponsored like the Golf Tournament at Sable Oaks this summer on June 6th which will feature a Lobster Bake or the Prince/Princess breakfast where High School students make breakfasts for children dressed up in their favorite prince or princess costume. I was thinking about what a resourceful way that is to raise money. Many times the medical industry has had to do the same thing. There were also high school and college students attending the event through the Tomorrow’s Leaders Programs. This event included students from McAuley High School.

Lydia Gatica, a Student Senate member from the Midcoast campus of SMCC in

Brunswick went up to the microphone and asked a question towards the end. There was very little time left and so they only were allowing two questions. She asked a question that plainly inquired about how we are all going to get health care in the future. Good question. Eileen Skinner answered her calmly stating that we are, unfortunately, in a period of transition where people have to buy insurance or they just don’t have it, basically. States are working with the money from the Affordable Care Act to come up with more affordable insurance that may come with a subsidy. She said there are more opportunities now than people think so to go to your local provider and tell them what your circumstance are and see what exactly they can do for you to make   health care affordable. That is good news! Eggs and Issues was sponsored by AAA, Bank of America, Memic, Portland Press Herald, Pierce Atwood, Verrill DAna, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Fairpoint, Texas Instruments, Delta Dental, Fairpoint

Communications and Idexx.