SPEAKER WARNS OF HEALTH `VAMPIRES'

Sean Sullivan, president and CEO of the National Business Coalition Forum on Health based in Washington, D.C., offered plenty of stakes to drive into the hearts of "vampires."

"There are far too many bad ideas, vampires if you will, circulating out there about health-care reform," said Sullivan, who was the main speaker for the Southeast Missouri Business Group on Health at the Drury Lodge Tuesday night.

"Those bad ideas will have a terrible effect on reform unless we eliminate as many as possible," said Sullivan. "It's the job of business coalitions on health care reform to drive stakes into the hearts of those vampires to keep control in the hands of the private sector."

Sullivan offered a myriad of reasons why such coalitions are growing at an alarming rate.

"It's evident that change in the delivery and quality of health care is going to happen," said Sullivan. "Some believe President Clinton may be willing to wait for that change to come about during the next election so he can use it as a campaign issue, since campaigning is what he does best. I really don't think any drastic health care will come about if it becomes a close vote in the House or Senate."

Added Sullivan,"You also have to look at the fact that no health care reforms are going to be handed down to the private sector until the government shows it can do something to bring Medicare and Medicaid under control."

During the third annual meeting of the Southeast Business Group last April, membership was at 74, 52 regular members and 22 affiliates. According to Southeast Missouri Business Group Executive Director Mary Dunn, membership was at 94 at the 1994 annual meeting.

"There are business coalitions forming all across the country," said Sullivan. "Once businesses realize that they can directly affect the quality of health care for their employees, they see how important it is to unite and send the message to legislators."

Sullivan stressed two goals the Southeast Missouri Business Group on Health should strive to achieve. "We need to get a better health care delivery system and to offer incentives for those in the health business to provide quality care in an efficient system," he said.

Added Sullivan,"I look at it like using Federal Express rather than the post office. It's not that I have anything against the post office, but if I want something delivered the next day, I go to Federal Express. That's the same way you need to think about health care delivery."

Another goal is to provide better health for the entire community. "You can't really fix the supply side," he said. "What you have to look at is the demand for health care. The better job you do in making the community a more healthy place to live, the more efficient the system will become."

Sullivan is against looking for employer mandates to pay for the health care of employees. "It doesn't provide as much coverage as politicians would have you believe," he said. "Some say we should provide a national health care system through taxes, but then that would be giving up a lot of control on how the money would be spent," he said.

Sullivan also opposes a purely socialistic health care system. "Someone once said if you thought the health care system was expensive to run right now, wait until you see how much it costs when it's free," quipped Sullivan.

He added,"The bottom line is, you've got to work to keep the quality of health care in your community high and to make the delivery as cost-efficient as possible. You can only really do that by making sure you never let go of too much control in the private sector."

Sullivan was asked at the conclusion of his speech what types of reform health care business coalitions are moving toward.

"There's a big alphabet soup going on out there, but it seems the PHO (Physician Hospital Organization) is in vogue right now," he said. "There are POs, or physician organizations, forming as well. But right now I'd say the PHOs are what's popular in the cities I'm visiting."