Health care delivery: Alaska hospital administrators offer introspection.

• Author: Stomierowski, Peg
• Position: HEALTH & MEDICINE - Company overview

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With the economy in historic recession and the future of health care delivery in the United States subject to creative conjecture, it can be hard to see what might be coming down the pike. We asked regionally prominent health care administrators for an eagle-eye perspective. Al Parrish, CEO of Providence Health & Services Alaska; Ed Lamb, CEO and president of Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage; Mike Powers, CEO of Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and Denali Center; and Shawn Morrow, CEO of Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau shared their insights.

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ABM: How's the view from the top ... what are your primary goals and challenges?

Al Parrish, Providence: We continue to be focused on improving the health of individuals in the communities we serve. We provide services across the continuum of life--from prenatal and neonatal services, to long-term care and hospice. At each of these stages and in every program, we are focused on offering high-quality, affordable health care while promoting access for our most vulnerable populations. We're also focused on developing new services to meet the needs of our changing and growing state. Recently, we've opened Maska's first integrated cancer center, expanded cardiac services, enhanced orthopedic and neurosciences offerings, and established needed wellness programs. The major challenges are the rising cost of health care and the growth and aging of our population. As our population ages, chronic disease will drive greater health care use. Our burden is to find ways to meet this need at a cost society can afford.

Ed Lamb, Alaska Regional: Very optimistic. Despite its critics, U.S. health care offers the best in technology, training, professionals and facilities. Our first priority is safety. We aim for excellent service and a delivery system that's easy to navigate, cost effective and compassionate. Another goal is development of a new critical/intensive care unit, along with an integrated emergency services department. It's critical to have state-of-the-art facilities. Since time is valuable to everyone, we try to respect the needs of patients, their families and our physicians. Challenges include ensuring that all people in Alaska are best served. It's becoming harder to find providers willing to take on the extreme challenge of providing care for patients who have payers, such as Medicare, that are unwilling to decrease the burden of paperwork responsibility and risk, and offer fair financial reimbursement.

Mike Powers, Fairbanks Memorial: Health care administration is a dynamic endeavor to provide good care to a changing community at the lowest practical cost, and to address socially relevant needs in the face of fiscal pressures. Currently, challenges in Fairbanks...