As I moved
through college, I never thought of pursuing a career in health care. I focused
on completing my education and beginning a career in public accounting with
what was then one of the “Big Eight” accounting firms. The Chicago office,
where I started, served some recognizable big-name, international companies, as
well as some large banks and saving and loan institutions. We also served
health care.
The year was
1973. Medicare was just six years old, and the impact that it would have on the
health care industry was only beginning to be appreciated. Many of the people
in my office wanted little to do with health care. They didn’t view it as a
potential future career. I was fortunate enough to become associated with those
of a different opinion. Other than the minor surgery I had had in the third
grade, it was my first memorable exposure to health care.
The
complexity of health care drew me in: the reimbursement mechanisms; the web of
relationships among institutions, physicians, caregivers, payers and
government; the social construct of health care as a right juxtaposed with
accountability for self and the economic reality of keeping the social promise.
Upon the passage of Medicare, President Lyndon Johnson commented, “Because the
need for this action is plain, and it is so clear indeed that we marvel not
simply at the passage of this bill, but what we marvel at is that it took so
many years to pass it.”
My early draw
to health care was its complexity, but what has kept me in this industry for
four decades is what health care can accomplish. Health care connects to people
at some of our most vulnerable life moments. Health care represents healing,
hope and compassion. At its core, health care is people caring for people.
At St. Mary’s
Health System in Evansville, our associates and physicians strive every day to
deliver the best possible patient experience of high quality, efficient,
effective and personal care. It sounds simple. And it is. But it is difficult
to execute in an increasingly regulated, competitive and technical environment.
We have been successful at St. Mary’s, and I am proud to have been associated
these past 22 years with this Catholic health care ministry.
It has been
40 years since I began my association with health care. Much has changed; much
remains the same. We are entering a period of transition as we adapt to the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the economic reality of
unsustainable health care spending and the consequences of an aging population.
As we adapt, I ask that we all take to heart the words of President Johnson in
describing President Harry Truman’s efforts to achieve universal coverage:
“Many men can make many proposals. Many men can draft many laws. But few have
the piercing and humane eye which can see beyond the words to the people that
they touch.” As we adapt, we must not lose sight of the people we care for.
May God bless
our country’s leaders in health care and beyond with wisdom and compassion.