BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN MEDICAL AND BUSINESS

Health care is a concern of the Chamber of Commerce's health and human services committee.

"The committee has been around for the past couple of years, but we've never wrestled with anything substantive," says Jeff Krantz, chairman of the health sub-committee. "Now we have active people on the committee, and we're trying to make some impact."

Krantz says the sub committee has developed a working draft of a community health plan that identifies four areas the sub committee believes need addressed. Those areas are quality health care; physician and medical staff recruitment; wellness, employer and employee, and community awareness; and health care costs and financing.

"We want to tackle access first," Krantz says. "After some analysis we found the Community Caring Council to be effective, and we have asked the chamber to endorse it in order to help create a better tie between the council and the business community."

A problem of businesses is that they do not know where to direct their employees on health care issues, Krantz says.

"Businesses don't know what services are available through the County Health Services or the United Way," he says. "We want to create greater awareness in the hope that it will lead to better integration between the health and human services and the business community, which would lead to better overall community relations."

In general, many people go without health care or reduce the consumption of elective health care, Krantz says, meaning they go to the emergency room for help, instead of going to the doctor's office.

"They don't chose medical intervention until it needs to be interceded because they don't have access to a physician for financial reasons, or they don't have a relationship established with a physician."

Furthermore, the person's insurance coverage may pay for a visit to the emergency room but not to the physician's office, Krantz says. "So there's increased incentive to go to the emergency room."

Of the second area the sub committee is working on physician-medical staff recruitment he says, "We want to make everyone aware that Cape is blessed with a number of physicians and specialists."

Cape Girardeau has between 140 and 160 doctors, and they draw patients from throughout the region.

"And many of the surrounding counties meet the criteria for physician-deficient areas," Krantz says.

Physicians practicing in the area are booked to the maximum and that is why there is a waiting period.

"People who don't have a relationship established with a physician will sometimes have to go weeks or months before they see a physician," Krantz says. "This is because most doctors already have full caseloads and aren't taking new patients."

In the past, physicians were recruited by one or more of the hospitals or physicians' group, Krantz says. "But perhaps with greater involvement and awareness by the business community they could help with more of the recruitment."

The business community is already involved with health care issues because many who provide health care benefits to their employees have seen their premiums escalate, Krantz says. "Companies are in business to provide goods and services," he says, "not health care benefits."

Krantz says: "A business' management doesn't choose to be consumed by the issues of health care, but by the growth of their business. But in reality they have to spend time looking at the benefits for employees more than they planned to."

Since so many businesses are spending so much time and money on health care, many are trying to reduce the cost through reduced benefits or reduced corporate portions of premiums, Krantz says. "And the employees are being asked to pay more. This is an unfortunate aspect of reduction from the employees' perspective because they have to lay out more money.

"But the other aspect of the business community is the small businesses that don't provide benefits at all."

In sheer numbers, the small businesses far outweigh the large ones in the area, Krantz says. "For the people who aren't covered that can become a serious financial burden on the individual or the family."

Procter and Gamble is a prime mover in trying to get health care insurance organized, Krantz says. "They are trying to establish a relationship with the insurance provider to offer an insurance product to the business community."

His committee is charged with making the business community aware of the availability of health care, especially for small businesses. "The idea is that through group purchases of insurance the premium will be lower than if the individual business approached the insurer directly."

Some businesses walk away from the insurance intermediary and critique their own health care utilization; "the idea being that `I don't need to pay company ABC to tell me what's happening to my health care cost.' so these businesses end up conducting internal regulation of their own health care costs."