The headlining current debate about the Affordable Care Act, regardless of one’s political viewpoints, comes down to accountability of the delivery of health care and the math problem of how a country goes about paying for this care, to the tune of nearly3.4 trillion dollars a year. That debate, while extremely important, barely acknowledges what I think is an even more serious problem, namely the looming surgical specialist shortage in rural and community hospitals. The main focus of my current job, is to fill gaps in coverage (shortages of specialists) in these hospitals.
For my talk at Lizard Creek, using the theme of “Bridges”, I will be discussing the alarming problem of the dwindling surgical specialist workforce in rural communities, why this is important, why this is not going to go away anytime soon, and practical strategies (bridges) we are using at LifePoint™ to assist, bolster, and maximize the efficiency of these professionals, doing more with fewer providers, thereby bridging the conventional past with innovative strategies so that we can continue to field effective surgical teams in rural communities in the future.
