St. Francis Hospital CEO Robert Granger


Obamacare E


veryone in the Columbus Regional Health Care System— and that’s the majority of every- body in the health care system in


Columbus—knows change is coming. But no one seems to want to talk about it. It’s not hard to see why. Mention


“Obamacare” to even a friend—and even President Barack Obama calls the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act by that term now—and it can feel like that confrontation scene in a movie where everybody suddenly realizes they’re equally armed and equally exposed. “Okay. We’re all friends here,” you want to say, hands up in a placating gesture. “Nobody has to get hurt. Just step away. Just step


AUGUST 2013


away from the Obamacare.” It happens even when talking to friends,


and especially when you’re talking to hospital administrators, to whose mul- tiple and complex personnel, medical and financial responsibilities has been added the implementation of massive, paradigm- shiſting reform. Already, the deadlock in Congress—“sequestration”—has triggered a two percent reduction in federal funds, costing the area millions of dollars. But when you need to go to a hospital, terms like “public health insurance exchanges” and debates over “Medicare sustainability” won’t matter—to either the patient or the providers. How are area hospitals going to not only continue providing good,


Columbus and the Valley


Comes to the Valley


by Judith Sheppard Photos by Mike Culpepper


sometimes nationally recognized medical services, but grow, as the aging popula- tion and need for services expands? How are they going to do it without the federal money they expected and the new rules and paperwork they are trying frantically to assimilate? Te answer boils down to: Well, we’re


working on that. St. Francis Hospital


Robert Granger, a tall gray-haired man


who’s the chief executive officer of this major hospital, leans back from the confer- ence table with an expansive shrug. “Any- one who says they know what’s coming is either a salesman or a huckster who ought


43


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77