Mason General Hospital Commissioners- Public Hospital District No.1, Mason General Hospital, Shelton, WA

Meeting Notice:

Public Hospital District No. 1 Board of Hospital Commissioners meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month (except holidays) beginning at 8 a.m. in the Washington Room at Mason General Hospital. Exceptions to this will be sent to the Shelton Journal for publication per state law.

Public Hospital District No.1, the governing body of Oakland Bay Pediatrics, Shelton Family Medicine, MGH Shelton Orthopedics, Mtn. View Women’s Health Clinic, MGH Eye Clinic, MGH Surgery Clinic, officers for the 2009 Board of Commissioners. Nancy Trucksess, Shelton, was elected as president of the three person commission; Scott Hilburn, Shelton, is secretary, Don Wilson, Potlatch, is commissioner.

Hospital Joins County's Goal to"Continue to Strive to Meet Healthcare Needs of Community"

A group of interested citizens came together several times to learn how to build and support a future local healthcare system that is needed in Mason County.

In a rural community like Mason County, the health sector is also one of the more vital economic engines. Understanding and moving ahead in regard to its needs is important not only for a healthcare arena, but for economic viability in the County.

This project was made possible by a grant for technical assistance that Mason County received from the National Association of Counties. Mason Matters assisted the County in procuring the grant.

"This was an excellent opportunity for the community to come together and look at all facets of out healthcare system," said Mason County Commissioner, Jayni Kamin.

Mason General Hospital CEO, Bob Appel, CFO, Eric Moll and President of the Board of Hospital Commissioners, Don Wilson were part of the committee.

4. Estimate the secondary impacts of the health sector on Mason County's economy.

In the economic report, employment and payroll are the important direct economic activities created in Mason County from the health sector. The health sector is divided into the following five components: hospitals; doctors, dentists and other medical professionals; nursing and protective care; pharmacies; and other medical health services.

In Mason County, healthcare accounts for $82 million in payroll and about 1,900 well-paying jobs with benefits.

MGH's component employs 452 people with an annual payroll of nearly $22 million. Each of these healthcare jobs, in turn, supports another 1,600 local jobs, generating an additional $49 million in payroll, for a total economic impact of $131 million. The employment multiplier for MGH is 1.91. This indicates that for each job created in the hospital, 0.91 jobs are created throughout the area due to the business and household spending. The income multiplier for the hospital sector is 1.55. This means that for each dollar created at MGH, 0.55 dollars are created throughout the area due to business and household spending.

However, the healthcare environment is changing, and rural communities need to be proactive and do things differently in order to keep the current viable healthcare system in place.

Rural communities are generally poorer and older than the urban communities, meaning more people are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Over the years, the U.S. federal government has been making cuts in the reimbursement rates for these insurance programs. These cuts hurt the rural medical providers and hospitals harder than their urban counter parts, making it more difficult for them to stay in business. For Mason County, this means that more people are covered by Medicare and Medicaid, and that our local providers are receiving less and less for their services.

Second, rural communities like Mason County are projected to experience a higher than usual increase in our senior population. In 2000, citizens over the age of 65 years represented 17 percent of our population. This is expected to increase to 28 percent of the population in 2025. "This means we need to be planning now for the types of healthcare services that this growing senior population will need. Mason County is an attractive place for seniors to retire. We can make it more attractive and help seniors stay in the community if we have the healthcare services that seniors need," stated Emmett Doby, director of Community Development for Mason County.

The third challenge to rural health care systems is the growing number of people without any health insurance. In rural communities, a large number of jobs are created by small businesses. These days, it is hard for small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees, and it is getting harder all the time. Statewide, of the people who lack health insurance, 75 percent are employed but do not qualify for health insurance benefits from their employer, or cannot afford coverage, or receive no benefits

The economic impact of the health sector upon the economy of Mason County is tremendous. The health sector employs a large number of residents, similar to a large industrial firm. The secondary impact occurring in the community is extremely large and measures the total impact of the health sector. If the health sector increases or decreases in size, the medical health of the community as well as the economic health of the community are greatly affected. For the attraction of industrial firms, businesses and retirees, it is crucial that the area have a sufficient and quality health sector.

This ad-hoc committee also helped Mason County commissioners, along with Public Hospital District No. 1 commissioners, plan for the healthcare system by creating a telephone survey to see what drives the healthcare needs and wants in Mason County.

"The preliminary survey results were very encouraging in terms of the high satisfaction levels with the services provided by Mason General, especially in our Emergency services," said Eric Moll , chief financial officer at MGH. "Access to physicians is a concerning issue. The providers in Mason County perform a high quality service, but according to NACO researchers, the number of physicians necessary to serve Mason County needs to double. In a way, this is encouraging, because it shows the demand for services locally is increasing. Pubic Hospital District No. 1 commissioners are firmly committed to meeting these challenges and continuing to provide access to healthcare services."

The survey results have been realized but have not been acted upon by the committee. "We plan to regroup in September to see where we need to go with the data," added Kimberley Klint , executive director of Mason Matters. "The data will be used by a number of organizations in upcoming strategic planning activities, including the County Comprehensive Plan and Mason General Hospital."