Northwest Indiana's health care industry is in such a state of flux that the Indiana General Assembly needs to pay careful attention.
The Indiana Health Finance Commission has paid close attention to what's happening in Gary as the Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus has faced numerous difficulties in recent years. Fortunately, Methodist is turning the corner and recorded a profit in 2006.
The commission has prepared a draft resolution supporting the location of a children's hospital, a teaching hospital and a trauma center in Gary. The expansion of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Gary to a complete four-year medical school is a part of this plan.
Meanwhile, Porter County seems to be the wild west of health care, with South Bend-based Memorial Hospital buying land near Valparaiso for a new hospital and Valparaiso-based Porter hospital planning to purchase land for a new facility at U.S. 6 and Ind. 49.
Another specialty hospital is being proposed.
The question of how many hospitals Porter County needs -- and how many it can support -- is one that needs to be asked before the county's health care suffers from even more upheaval than it already faces.
Maybe the General Assembly needs to examine whether to return to the "certificate of need" program that carefully controlled the health care industry in Indiana. The idea was to make sure new structures and equipment were truly necessary rather than simply inflating the cost of health care.
Since the certificate program was discontinued, specialty hospitals have eroded the financial base supporting general hospitals, snatching away customers who can afford special treatment and leaving the general hospitals (a) to care for people who cannot pay and (b) to provide less profitable services that have traditionally been subsidized by other operations.
Ordinarily, we're reluctant to urge government to get this heavily involved in an industry, but health care is a necessity. This is not just a quality-of-life issue but one of life and death.
The Legislature's can help Methodist with its recovery, but it can also help better define realistic needs for hospital care in Porter County.
Your opinion, please
Should the Indiana General Assembly order a return to the "certificate of need" program for hospitals?
