At St. Charles, we are concerned about the escalating total costs of insurance and out of pocket expenses faced by our patients, by our employees, by our business community and by taxpayers.
Health care is simply too expensive.
For the past several years, St. Charles leaders have asked insurance companies to work with us on proposals that address our ongoing concerns related to delays in patient care, denials for treatments and administrative burdens on our care teams. Our goal is to find common ground with insurers to address inefficiencies and wasteful processes within our overly complicated payment systems that add to costs for everyone – especially our patients.
We’ve made strides and found common ground in some of these conversations, but not all. That is why the insurance companies that are contracted with the health system change somewhat regularly. If you are curious where your coverage currently stands, I recommend reaching out to your insurance company first. You can also check this page on our website.
While health care costs continue to rise, hospitals and stand-alone clinics struggle to maintain financial viability. In 2024, 45% of Oregon’s community hospitals lost money. In other parts of the state, we are seeing medical practices and hospitals attempting to consolidate, looking for out-of-state investors, laying off staff, cutting programs and services, all in an effort to ward off closure.
Those aren’t good options for any community but are especially concerning for a region like Central Oregon where the population is growing rapidly, particularly among seniors, and alternative options may be hundreds of miles away. The net result for our community is a widening gap between demand and supply of services which most of us experience as difficulty finding providers and longer wait times for essential services. In order to meet this gap and growing need, we need to reinvest in our people, facilities and services. To do so (and to counter reimbursements from insurance companies and government programs that have not kept up with inflation), we have negotiated above average rate increases from insurance companies a few times in recent years.
Thanks to this approach, our workforce is growing, our staff vacancy rate is historically low and we are actively making physical upgrades to our hospitals and clinics. And, as highlighted in our 2024 Annual Report, we’re taking action to preserve, expand and improve access to care in the communities we serve with a strong focus on keeping care local.
Ultimately, St. Charles is committed to providing essential health care services in Central Oregon for years to come. To do that, we have to make good on another commitment: To grow sustainably by remaining strong financially. Without the latter, the former becomes much more difficult, if not impossible.
Thank you, as always, for reading, and for your interest in St. Charles – your local, nonprofit health care system.
Sincerely,
Steve
