icon Blueprint for February

On the Right Path

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3 min read

Am I missing something or is the current campaign-driven conversation about healthcare totally focused on costs? Limiting the healthcare debate to dollars and cents makes no sense.

What is sorely missing—and what is most impactful—is the change the Affordable Care Act has motivated in both healthcare delivery and the way we think about it. There are likely now urgent care facilities in your community that were not there prior to passage of the ACA. You are probably hearing much more frequent discussion about the environmental factors that affect health, the social determinants, as opposed to an exclusive focus on genetics. There is a much wider availability of in-home health services leading to a decrease in doctor visits and returns to hospitals and other medical facilities following release.

Let’s be frank here: Republicans labeled the ACA “Obamacare” intending it to be an insult to the then-president and those who supported it. But instead, it has turned out to be an honor. Snark may be an expected strategy in today’s politics, but we have yet to see evidence that it is at all effective. As I sit here writing this, the current president is whining publicly about his Health & Human Services Secretary because this prez is anxious to own the healthcare that has his predecessor’s name attached to it.

The story of the successes of the ACA has not been well enough told to our country. In this issue, we do our teeny little part of making up for that.

Hospitals and healthcare systems have been among the most vocal and visible advocates of the improvements in our system. With the emphasis on social determinants of health as their mantra, they have taken to identifying and financially investing in development of the base of all health – housing. Two years ago in these pages, we published an article about two organizations—United Healthcare and Boston Medical Center—that jumped in to support affordable housing. Today, via the Healthcare Anchor Network, there are at least 45. In The Growing Healthcare/Housing Investment Pool, staff writer Mark Olshaker reaches out to participants who explain this trend and the results they are witnessing.

Mercy Housing, an NH&RA member that operates over 350 facilities around the nation, provides health support to three-quarters of its residences – but that is just the tip of their resident services program, one of, if not the most comprehensive, in the country. In Program-Enriched Housing, staff writer Mark Fogarty looks at the expanse of Mercy’s admirable endeavor, which includes after-school programs and financial literacy classes, as well as individual financial planning sessions for residents.

A few years back, we featured the overall approach to homecare of The Schuett Companies, also among our members. But to really understand and feel how these services improve the quality of residents’ lives, you need to hear about what goes on day-to-day inside a facility. And that is just what Mark Fogarty offers with his visit with the Schuett-subsidiary CompassionCare staff at Parkview Terrace Apartments in Moorhead, MN. (A Day of CompassionCare)

Even with these impressive innovations, we are not saying that our nation’s healthcare delivery system cannot use additional improvement. Nor that cost should be overlooked.  But the ACA set us on a right path – and that deserves to be hailed loudly and frequently.

Marty Bell, Editor