LUDLOW, Vt. – Tonia Fleming, director of marketing and planning at Springfield Hospital, spoke to the Ludlow Rotary Club about the challenges facing Vermont’s hospitals in general and Springfield Hospital in particular.
Challenges facing Vermont health care providers include a shortage of workers, reimbursements that don’t cover costs, increased patient complexity, and an aging population, among others. Recently, 30% of the patients in the emergency room were there for mental health or substance abuse issues, including a high number of young people.
There are many other challenges as well that are not controllable by the hospital, such as transportation, day-care challenges, and affordability.
There are, however, state initiatives, including regional efforts, to plan for the future and address rising costs. Springfield Hospital is collaborating with Grace Cottage, Brattleboro, and Ascutney hospitals to address broader issues facing all the hospitals and health care facilities in Vermont. The group is looking into whether they can share staff or recruit from local nursing schools to avoid paying for traveling nurses, which are expensive, among other initiatives.
Springfield Hospital serves a six-county service area, as they have been doing for the past 106 years. It is hoping to share some of the $195 million of federal health-care dollars recently allotted to Vermont. Its mission is to provide personalized, high-quality care in its niche market of 25 beds for short-term care.
Fleming encouraged rotarians to look at costs in advance on the Springfield Hospital website and compare those with other facilities. She indicated their facilities provide a wide and comprehensive range of specialized clinical services, from routine and complex surgery, to day-case procedures, diagnostic services, and physiotherapy. She encouraged attendees to stay local for care.
Cost and convenience are Springfield Hospital’s core strengths, giving them the ability to compete with other health care providers in the future.