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February 23, 2006
On New Hospitals
An article in the Chico ER this morning says that a group in town concerned about the infection rate at Enloe hospital is seeking a second hospital in Chico. The group is circulating a petition, and with enough signatures, they'll present the petition to a number of hospital chains to see if any are interested. Sounds like a reasonable idea to me.
What I like about this idea is that it is well contrived. A petition for something this size is always good, it drums up support, or defeats an idea before it becomes costly and political. Plus, competition is always a good thing. The two hospitals, if another came into existance, would compete for business, nurses, doctors, patients, and ambulance contracts. That means better services, better wages, and better care all around. That's always a good thing.
The problem with this idea is that letting a large hospital corporation into Chico brings a host of issues along with it. Most large hospital chains have contracts with various other companies for services. Small care providers like North Valley Imaging, First Responder Ambulance, and the like may be edged out by huge contracters like American Medical Response (a mega-huge ambulance company). This group should be careful before raising an elephant in its back yard, because at some point, it may try to break out. Also, such large corporations may not see themselves as part of the community the way Enloe does and may not be as responsive to concerns about noise and such as Enloe is. A "you brought us here, now we're going to do our business" attitude may prevail.
It's a touchy subject. On one hand competition is good, and I always welcome that, on the other, many problems may come from inviting a huge hospital corporatin into Chico. I certainly hope this group has thought these things through before they go forward with their plans.
Posted by at February 23, 2006 12:29 PM