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Sunday, July 08, 2007

Ind. Law - Still More on hospital competition in NW Indiana

"Competing hospitals will be good for Porter County" was the headline to an editorial July 4th in the NWI Times - see the ILB entry, as well as links to leading to earlier, related entires, here.

Today the NWI Times' competitor, the Gary Post Tribune, has a story by Mark Taylor headlined "New hospitals drive up medical costs." Some quotes:

Just because another hospital is coming to Northwest Indiana, consumers should not expect competition to drive health care costs down.

That's the prediction of industry experts in the wake of South Bend's Memorial Hospital and Health System's announcement last week it would build a $225 million facility in Valparaiso.

Gene Diamond, regional chief executive officer of the Sisters of St. Francis Health System, said the entry of a new competitor into the market will bring new jobs, expanded services and greater competition to Valparaiso. But it will come with a cost.

"This facility will cost more than $200 million," he said. "The new owners of Porter plan to spend more than $100 million. Who will pay for all that? Will it affect the cost of health care? The answer is undeniably, yes."

That effect could well ripple throughout the region. * * *

[Patricia Hofstra, a Gary attorney who specializes in health care with the Chicago office of law firm Duane Morris,] expects that prices will rise because of the increased number of hospitals, which will likely mean more tests and procedures performed on increasingly more expensive equipment.

"I don't think competition ever brings down health care prices," she said. "Part of that is because most people don't shop based on cost or even know how much it costs."

This echoes earlier ILB observations.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 8, 2007 01:28 PM
Posted to Indiana Law