From the CEO
One of the valuable services that Nueterra Healthcare brings to each of our facilities is our active involvement in the legislative process at the state and federal levels. Nueterra works daily with major industry associations and independently to protect your interests and your investment.
Earlier this summer, Nueterra executive and physician representatives traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in separate rounds of legislative meetings coordinated by the ASC Association and the Physician Hospitals of America. These meetings followed earlier, private meetings that Nueterra arranged with staff members for key elected officials.
"For too long, our industry has been inwardly focused while our opponents have developed sophisticated and well-funded lobbying campaigns," said Nueterra CEO John Schario, who serves on the boards of the ASC Association and the ASC Coalition. "The physician-owned industry needs to rapidly come together to provide funding and grassroots support for the efforts of our trade associations."
During all of these meetings, Nueterra representatives stressed to elected officials and their staff the important role that physician-owned surgery centers and hospitals fill in the healthcare spectrum. Meeting in the midst of the national debate on healthcare reform, Nueterra made it clear to everyone in these meetings that physician-owned facilities are healthcare reform ... providing quality, efficient and cost-effective care in an environment preferred by both patients and physicians.
Specifically, the meetings followed two paths: one involved proposed legislation to prevent ASC reimbursement from declining further, the other focused on combating the latest effort to ban physician-owned hospitals.
David Ayers, president of Nueterra's Surgical Facilities Division and a member of the PHA Board of Directors, said the messages received a cordial reception but no commitments.
"We clearly have a lot more work to do and not a lot of time to do it in if we want to influence the current healthcare reform debate," Ayers said. He urged everyone associated with physician-owned hospitals to get involved with grassroots efforts to defeat the latest attack.
Nueterra Healthcare has a dedicated Public Affairs Web site that contains a wealth of information on physician ownership as well as links to national and state associations and their grassroots lobbying tools (www.nueterrahealthcare.com/pa). The Web site is maintained by Nueterra's Public Affairs team, and contact information for the team can also be found there.
As a final indication of Nueterra's commitment to you and the company's expertise in the industry, while Nueterra is aggressively working to protect your interests on several fronts, the company is also taking steps to prepare for a new industry dynamic should the proposed hospital legislation pass.
John Schario, CEO, Nueterra Healthcare