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Peebles Hospital heading into ‘A Perfect Storm’ – John I. Cline
This he expressed to the Virgin Islands News Online in a recent exclusive interview as he spoke to the challenges facing the health sector and which are likely to compound with the transformation of the Peebles Hospital into the new facility.
Noting that the health sector is funded almost by 100% from the government’s coffers, he said that as the economic hardship hits, the health sector also feels the squeeze. “Because they are feeling economic hardships we are also feeling the pressure,” Bishop Cline said.
He explained that 80% of the people that are being serviced by the BVIHSA are either over 65 years old or under 16 years and are deemed exempt. “Then they are people that come they don’t have any insurance, they don’t have any money and we cannot deny them care,” he stressed.
He said that because of legislation they are not able to raise fees neither do they want to cut staff or services.
Bishop Cline described the transition of the Peebles Hospital as “heading into a perfect storm” financially if the NHI does not come on stream soon. He said that the existing problems are likely to be compounded should they not be able to meet their financial obligations after the transition especially in the areas of paying bills for pharmaceuticals and others.
The shortage of required human resources is another likely challenge as more people would be required as the new facility is much bigger. “We estimate an average of about ten million dollars more per year to run the facility with the budget that we presently operate on.” Current they are portioning on a budget of some twenty three million dollars, he said.
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24 Responses to “Peebles Hospital heading into ‘A Perfect Storm’ – John I. Cline”
Service demand is rising, cost is rising, revenues are flat or declining and the economy is still in the doldrums. Clearly, the governing model currently in place is not working and must be revamped. One of the first order of business is to develop a level of service and how it should be paid for. The current expectation of government (BVIHSA) shouldering most of the cost is not a win-win. This model leads to limited and marginal services. A better model is shared cost between BVIHSA and customers.
Customers should be means tested; if customers have the ability to contribute to the cost of their care, they should. It (BVI) should take care of the elderly, the young and the indigent. A properly structured and managed and shared healthcare system that provides accessible and affordable care is a win-win for the BVI. But getting accessible and affordable care will not be attained easily nor cheaply. As such, residents that can share in the cost should not be riding in the wagon but should be pulling it.
smdh
Bishop, you sing the song from the mountain tops lest they make you the scapegoat
is it legal (God knows its not ethical), for the c........n of the board of the ...... to directly benefit from the sale of products to outfit the h.....l?
Rather than going with a nhi, I would support having any employee that is employed full time be mandated that their employer have to offer health coverage through a private insurer at a basic level of care. Those who aren't working can then by subsidized by government. This is the model that Bermuda, cayman and Bahamas have adopted and it works well for them due to their small population sizes. If other countries similar to us have dismissed a nhi due to the cost and limited population, why are we even still considering it?