SPEAKER: CITY NEEDS ADDITIONAL DOCTORS

The need to recruit primary-care doctors is just one of the issues being studied by a Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce committee, which hopes to help foster an improved health-care system locally.

Jeff Krantz, director of planning for Southeast Missouri Hospital and co-chairman of the chamber's health and human services committee, said Friday that Cape Girardeau needs more primary-care physicians.

That's reflected in the effort being made by the local medical community to recruit new doctors. "Each hospital (Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center) this year has spent in the ballpark of $200,000 recruiting physicians," Krantz told a crowd of about 130 people at the chamber's First Friday Coffee at Drury Lodge.

Krantz said it costs between $20,000 and $50,000 to recruit a single doctor.

The Cape Girardeau County Medical Society and the two hospitals have produced a recruitment video tape at a cost of $10,000 in an effort to attract new doctors to the area, he said.

Krantz said it's important to have primary-care physicians, who he described as "the gatekeepers right now of the system."

In addition to physician recruitment, the chamber committee is looking at such issues as access to quality health care, wellness programs and community awareness of existing health care programs, and health-care costs.

Nationally, Krantz said, there's a number of issues surrounding health care.

"We do not have a national health-care policy," he said.

On one hand, the federal government spends money on cancer research while it aids the tobacco industry, Krantz said.

Health-care costs comprise 14 percent of the nation's gross national product.

"There are 37 million uninsured people in the United States," said Krantz. Of those, 85 percent live in working households, he said.

"There is a growing elderly population and an aging workforce," said Krantz.

On top of that, there's been a philosophical shift. Instead of viewing health care as a privilege, citizens now consider it a right, he said.

There's the AIDS problem as well. "In 1992, AIDS was the 11th leading cause of death in Missouri," said Krantz.

In terms of health-care expenses, there's the problem of federal and state governments shifting costs onto the health-care industry and consumers, he said.

Hospitals such as Southeast and St. Francis have their hands tied in terms of cooperative ventures. "There are federal constraints regarding collaboration," said Krantz.

Nationwide, health-care fraud totals $145 million annually, he said.

There's the need for tort reform, which would reduce the need for defensive medicine and help lower health-care costs, said Krantz.

At this point, he said, there's no certainty as to how the Clinton administration's health-care reform plan will shake out.

There is access to health care in Cape Girardeau, said Krantz, but he maintained some people are not aware of the programs, such as those offered by the county health center.

"We apparently have not done a good job of telling people where they can get access," he said.

The cost of health care is an issue, said Krantz. But he said, "There is a tradeoff between cost and the quality of the system."

In England, where there's national health care, people can wait days just for emergency room care, he said.

In the U.S., hospitals write off a large percentage of revenue for treating indigent patients, he pointed out.

Krantz said the issue of health-care reform is of particular importance in Missouri, which could serve as a model for reform.

Just studying all the health-care issues locally takes time, Krantz said. "We (the chamber committee) have met monthly for almost a year and a half now," he said. "We have not moved to the point of action."