New hospital ignites fierce debate

If approved by the city council next Wednesday, Bloomington residents may have another choice as to where they get their health care from.\nLast week, the Bloomington City Council heard arguments from both opponents and advocates of construction of a speciality hospital in the city. The debate ended in a straw vote against the plan, in which five of the nine members voted against the petition, finding no need for another hospital in Bloomington. Four of the council members passed on the vote, wanting more time to go through information for next week's meeting. \nThe proposal for a new specialty hospital is part of a plan that includes development of about 102 acres of land on West Tap Road. The plan is spurring controversy about the need for a second hospital in Bloomington.\nLeaders from the Bloomington Hospital are opposed to the option of building a speciality hospital and are urging city council members to deny the proposal in the current form.\nIf the petition is passed as-is in its current form, it could potentially have a negative impact on Bloomington Hospital and not allow it to provide the best possible care to its patients, said Mark Moore, president and CEO of Bloomington Hospital.\n"We do not oppose a new medical complex being built," said Moore, in a statement, "but we do oppose the possibility of a new hospital being built with inpatient, overnight beds that does not share our mission of serving all patients. Bloomington Hospital has a responsibility to employees, the Medical Staff and our community to be proactive on this issue." \nDavid Goodman, executive director of Allied Employer Healthcare Coalition, said creating a speciality hospital will create more jobs, and competition between the two hospitals will decrease patient costs.\n"Having a speciality hospital will create a convenience of access," Goodman said. "A large general hospital is mandated by special interests, they have, by necessity diversification. A speciality clinic can develop overhead."\nSham Defiant, business development manager of the Pain Management Center of Southern Indiana, said the speciality clinic also maintains that if built, it can provide care that patients will not receive at the community hospital.\n"Shouldn't the people of Bloomington have the right to choose where they receive their medical care?" Defigan asked. "People don't need to wait four to six hours before they are given care, or walk through long corridors. The people of Bloomington have a right to choose their provider."\nBloomington Hospital maintains that patient costs will not go down, and the hospitals' revenue could be in jeopardy.\nMoore said the council vote has him carefully optimistic.\n"We're not taking the straw vote for granted, we are very fortunate to have the caliber doctors working here," Moore said. "I feel optimistic about what occurred last Wednesday. It's unusual to see four pass, but we left there feeling cautiously optimistic."\nMoore also said another hospital in Bloomington might not decrease the cost of care for patients.\n"At a macro level, another hospital is actually counter-intuitive. Ask any person, and they will tell you that competition will decrease costs," Moore said. "In the medical economy, when you duplicate services and third parties are paying, the consumer is one step removed. There is a huge amount of fixed costs; the hospital is then faced with the decision to cut services or increase the charge of services. More often, you are not driving down the costs, the costs are going up."\nMoore also said patients will not have much of a choice when deciding which hospital to go to.\n"The choice of which hospital to go to is really going to come from the doctor," Moore said. "If your doctor tells you where to go, you're going to go there."\nThe hospital maintains a specialty hospital is not needed in the community.\n"Our contingency is that in a community this size and so well served for 99 years, that there could be a loss of capacity, access and quality of service provided. This venture is driven by profit motives." Moore said. "This community does not need an acute care facility."\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay Jancek at ljancek@indiana.edu.