I get a lot of releases from health care systems in this state.
One E-mail did stand out. Bayhealth informed us that an event was held at the Rehoboth Beach Country Club regarding its cancer program.
The event was in the backyard of the Beebe Healthcare system. By the way, Beebe is expanding its presence in cancer treatment with its own ambitious expansion effort.
In one respect it is good to see health care competition in Delaware, a state where three health care systems Beebe, Christiana, and Bayhealth enjoy large market shares in their backyards
Central Delaware’s Bayhealth clearly plans to change the game in Sussex, with its quarter of a billion-dollar Milford campus on the north edge of the county and now scuttled plans to build an emergency center that was an easy drive from the beach. Beebe also proposed an emergency center, an idea that was quashed by state health regulators.
Rounding error
The argument was that emergency rooms are expensive points of entry into the health care system with another center would drive up costs.
The claim is at best unproven as the project was a rounding error when compared to the billion dollars in health care projects in recent years.
With a large population of newly arrived retirees and rapid population growth, Bayhealth has a chance to get past the traditional loyalty residents have to their local hospitals. The big question is whether competition will begin to put pressure on health care costs and improve overall outcomes. The jury’s out.
Delaware has made inroads in cutting its high cancer rate. Still, there are signs that the “arms race” from out of state health care giants and their massive ad budgets may be more than a distraction.
Televisions stations in the Philadelphia area and other markets might be laying off staff if advertisements were not aired for cancer treatment centers. The ads tug at the heartstrings and suggest good things will happen if you chose the right cancer center (theirs).
Tugging at the heartstrings
An op-ed piece last year in the Wall Street Journal (paywall) suggests the ruth is a casualty in this market share battle.
Pitches seem to suggest miracles are in the offing, with none of the disclaimers we see in pharmaceutical pitches. Never mentioned are the widely varied survival rates for the many types of cancer.
Public health agencies do a good job of pushing screenings, smoking cessation, etc. that have cut the cancer rate in Delaware and elsewhere.
But it would be nice if the marketing machines behind Cancer Inc. could add a dose of reality to the process.
One idea – Divert more money to proven community education and screening approaches that would prevent or catch cancer earlier, rather than pouring marketing bucks aimed at vulnerable people fighting the biggest battle of their lives.
Enjoy this last taste of summer on the first day of fall.
If this newsletter was passed along, sign up here to get your own five-day-a-week email report at no charge. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
