Pennsylvania’s 8th District Representative Rob Bresnahan brought a well-known guest to the region Friday: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. The two met with hospital executives and local health officials to hear directly about the challenges facing healthcare providers across Northeast Pennsylvania.
“The purpose of the visit was for them to talk with local representatives and local healthcare officials and hear about what the needs of the region were and bring that back to Washington to potentially help get local health systems in rural parts of Pennsylvania and elsewhere across the country the help that they need,” said Liam Mayo, news editor of The River Reporter.
Much of the discussion centered around the Rural Health Transformation Fund, a $50 billion program included in this year’s federal budget aimed at bolstering rural healthcare systems. “A lot of what Bresnahan and Dr. Oz talked about was ways that they were hearing to make sure that money was going to be effective in actually helping the needs of health systems and health care in rural parts of the country,” Mayo said.
At a press conference following a closed-door roundtable, local healthcare leaders shared their perspectives. Jim Pettinato, CEO of Wayne Memorial Hospital, highlighted the challenges faced by smaller hospitals. “It was nice to be able to sort of hear very clearly what the expectations were of the metrics… and to be able to sort of talk about some of those metrics,” Pettinato said.
Mayo added, “Hearing from Wayne Memorial specifically as a smaller hospital and making sure to adjust the metrics… understanding that Wayne Memorial Hospital is a smaller hospital and can’t necessarily do some of the things in terms of IT deployment that larger hospital systems would be able to do.”
In Pike County, which lacks a hospital or urgent care facilities, the focus was on emergency services. Mayo said, “That puts a lot of burden on the county’s emergency services, its ambulances… because there aren’t those resources more locally.” Pike County is partnering with Northwell Health to open two primary care facilities—first in Dingmans Ferry, then in Hawley—and eventually hopes to develop a “micro hospital” to provide more comprehensive local care.
Bresnahan and Dr. Oz also addressed concerns about the potential expiration of enhanced premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. Mayo explained, “Projections from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation indicate that in our listening area, there would be about a 110% increase for the holder of a mid-tier health insurance plan.” Bresnahan expressed support for a two-year extension with reforms, while Dr. Oz emphasized system reforms over additional funding. “His concern was more about reforming the system than about extending those credits,” Mayo said.
The visit also comes amid a contentious national debate over healthcare policy. “I think it’s a visit that is very much taken in full understanding of that political landscape… It’s both him being in the district and doing the job and listening to local leaders. And it’s something he’s doing knowing that this is going to be one of the biggest questions he’s going to be asked in about a year’s time when voters go to the polls,” Mayo said.
More at riverreporter.com.
Image: Dr. Mehmet Oz, left, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, speaks with Representative Rob Bresnahan following a Friday, December 5 roundtable with local health leaders in Northeast Pennsylvania. (Credit: Liam Mayo/River Reporter)