September 15, 2014
By Jonathan Drapkin / For The Times Herald-Record
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress recently completed an eight-month study on the region’s aging population and the readiness of the region’s health-care institutions and stakeholders to address it.
We were aided by an incredible group of committed health-care professionals who helped shape the focus of the study.
Observations such as the region has too many hospital beds and not enough home health-care options for the decades ahead rose to the top of our findings.
It became apparent that to ensure the region’s readiness, specific changes — some dramatic in nature — need to occur. These will not be easy changes. Debate over health care fosters vastly different viewpoints in how to change, and is often acrimonious as well.
If the Hudson Valley were in a significant growth mode, we might say we could weather these conditions because the business models of so many of the stakeholders would be able to survive, but that is not the case. When the pie is shrinking — as is the case in the region — businesses fight harder for their share.
Yet it is precisely the opposite that needs to occur for two reasons: First and most important is the need to ensure that the best level of health care can occur, and second, every projection for job growth shows that it is the health-care industry, broadly defined, that will lead the way.
From the ability to create high-end, well paying jobs, such as those in the biotech cluster, to those that are involved in the direct delivery of health care, growth in this industry could lead to hundreds if not thousands of new jobs over the decades to come.
This vision comes with a number of caveats and provisos. In the first instance, we wonder if the region has the ability to truly collaborate and reduce wasteful competition. Beyond that, Hudson Valley providers must reach consensus that the goal is to achieve new levels of care and drive an economic sector with the potential for growth. The creation of these jobs could attract young professionals to come and live in locations throughout the Hudson Valley.
To get to that growth, we will need to leap over a few roadblocks. We learned in our research of other health-care delivery systems that consolidations will help here dramatically, as long as we ensure a potential solution for even those who live in our most rural areas.
So where do we go? Leadership and collaboration. We caught a glimmer of this in the Governor’s 2014 State of State when he called for regional health-care planning. We are getting another snapshot as consortiums are being created to address reductions in Medicaid hospital admissions.
But getting this effort moving at the speed necessary will take a good deal more leadership. We are at the stage where the wheels of the old locomotive are starting to turn, trying to get the engine moving. Inside of that engine are many parts that need to be working together before it can affect the whole train. What’s needed now is forward motion.
Jonathan Drapkin is the president and CEO of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, a nonprofit research, policy and planning group that seeks regional solutions to increase the vitality of the region. He can be reached at .
