By Dr. Larry Gluck
Thoughtful individuals know that health care is in a challenging state of change. Most reasonable people also understand that one big challenge in health care is politics. Unfortunately, we’ve seen this problem right here at home.
A small group of politicians recently introduced legislation to force the sale of Greenville Health System, which would have a devastating impact on patient access to care and our state’s health-care future.
If this legislation became law, GHS would essentially be forced to sell its assets to the highest bidder. That buyer would likely be a for-profit, private-equity-backed company that knows nothing about our community. The Senate’s recent decision to amend its bill by removing the call to sell off GHS is a major step forward. I hope a similar bill in the House, which also calls for the sale of GHS, can be likewise handled.
By the time you read this op-ed, this matter may have been resolved and a better path forward charted. While I am heartened that legislators and GHS leadership are discussing ways to address concerns, I am still stunned that a handful of legislators took this ill-advised step in the first place.
As a locally led, not-for-profit health system, GHS reinvests 100 percent of its profits into new and improved services, facilities and equipment, and physicians and team members who provide outstanding patient care. It’s highly likely that only a for-profit health-care system would be interested in buying GHS. And such a buyer would take profits out of Greenville to distribute to shareholders and focus only on profitable services, not on meeting community health needs.
GHS, meanwhile, is working diligently to ensure patients continue to have access to locally led, high-quality care — including a full range of needed services — regardless of ability to pay.
This handful of legislators did not take into consideration how such change would negatively impact critically important — and also frequently unreimbursed — specialized care such as the region’s only Level I trauma center, our children’s hospital, behavioral health services, and our Level III neonatal intensive care unit that cares for our tiniest patients.
Unlike for-profit hospitals, “safety-net” not-for-profit hospitals like GHS provide these services and more as part of their commitment to their communities. Last year alone, GHS absorbed $98.7 million in charity care, $96 million in bad debt, and $177.4 million in unpaid costs when Medicare reimbursement fell short of the actual cost of care.
Fortunately, since GHS opened as a city hospital in 1912, it has been led by community leaders with the vision and commitment to do what’s best for our community.
At GHS, we care about Greenville because it’s our home. Our nearly 16,000 team members — physicians, nurses, other caregivers, and staff members — give back to the community and are committed to improving health care for our families, friends, and neighbors.
Nearly every day, I’m touched by community members who tell me their health-care stories and thank me for helping ensure the future of GHS for them and their families. I’m also grateful to the many local leaders who see the long-range importance of what we’re doing and wholeheartedly support our community-driven approach to delivering the high-quality care our community wants and deserves.
It is my sincere hope that some politicians will finally stop their misguided attacks on GHS, its employees, and the health and well-being of our community. The importance of what we are working to achieve — a thoughtful, market-driven answer to making health care better, more affordable, and more accessible — is clear. It’s in the best interest of our community.
I invite elected officials in our area to visit with us in the GHS Cancer Institute and see firsthand our physicians, facilities, and labs where we work with other researchers on first-in-nation clinical trials and groundbreaking research. Almost daily, we have visitors from across the nation who have come here specifically to see how we’ve done what we’ve done — to see how we’ve created a unique approach that treats the patient — mind, body, and soul — not just the cancer.
The doors of the Cancer Institute are wide open to you, and I offer to you a chance to see, understand, and appreciate what others have traveled thousands of miles to experience.
I urge thoughtful members of our community to join us in supporting a locally driven solution to the health-care challenges we face.
Larry Gluck, M.D., is the medical director of the Greenville Health System’s Cancer Institute.
