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Minister announces health conference
Caymanian Compass, September 9, 2011
Health minister Mark Scotland on Thursday announced plans to hold Cayman’s second national healthcare conference, which this year will address how affordable, quality healthcare can be made available to every person in the country.
Mr. Scotland said this year’s 20/20 National Healthcare Conference, called Healthcare Economics: The Search for Quality and Affordability, will pick up where last year’s conference left off - “in a process that will lead us to a sustainable and equitable model of healthcare for all of us in the Cayman Islands, one that can be envied worldwide”.
The minister said several healthcare initiatives had been undertaken, including the establishment of a healthcare cost review committee to look at how overall cost of healthcare can be reduced; the implementation of Cayhealth that focuses on preventive measures and primary healthcare to take pressure off emergency and acute care services; and expansion of clinical services including neurosurgery. He said the hospital was upgrading its operating theatres and that, in collaboration with government insurance company CINICO, his ministry was about to launch Care Pay, a verification system to enable almost immediate authentication of patients’ insurance benefits and remaining coverage. Mr. Scotland, speaking at a press conference Thursday morning, said it was the role of everyone - patients, medical professionals and those in the private and public sectors - to deal with the cost of healthcare.
“Everyone needs to understand there must be a culture change. Patients need to become more proactive in managing their own healthcare. Physicians need to be more engaged with their patients. Both of these parties will have to become more involved in how the medical industry is financed,” he said.
He added that the Health Services Authority would have to accept competition for clients as a reality. “The Cayman Islands will need to shift from a de facto nationalised system of healthcare to one that operates more like a free market, but one that is based on evidence-based practices and scientific evidence, not patient preference or old habit,” he said. Chief officer of the Ministry of Health, Environment, Youth, Sports and Culture Jennifer Ahearn agreed that there needed to be a shift in culture in Cayman, where many people have become accustomed to free healthcare and often are uninsured or under-insured, knowing that the government will provide healthcare for all. “The patients are not taking responsibility for their healthcare... Historically, people did not have to reach into their pockets before we had the insurance regime we have now.”
She said amendments to the health insurance regulations would help create this change as people with the basic mandatory health insurance often exhaust their benefits and fall into the underinsured category where they cannot meet the cost of their medical care.
“We’re hoping to enhance that package and as part of that, we’re going to run a fairly aggressive public education campaign about the importance of health insurance and the need to familiarise yourself with the benefits you have, and to also hopefully have people start to think... about the importance of preventative healthcare.”
Minister Scotland said small increases in insurance costs, for companies and individuals, would lead to higher savings in the long term. “Caymanians’ culture is we don’t go to the hospital unless we go there in an ambulance. If we have to go at that point, it’ll cost a lot more in healthcare,” he said, adding that the Cayhealth programme meant primary healthcare was being offered, initially to the indigent population, at the district clinics so medical issues could be found before they became too serious. He said the healthcare cost review committee was looking at ways of “incentivising” civil servants and other members of CINICO, whose insurance premiums are covered entirely by the government, to make co-pays or have options to go outside the Health Services Authority for their healthcare. He said the HSA had a “captive audience” in the 13,000 members of CINICO. “If we give them a option to go outside, the HSA revenue may go [down], but on the flip side, it’s a savings to government in terms of having to provide all the services of the HSA.”
Mr. Scotland said the conference would be helpful in achieving the sea change in the approach to Cayman’s healthcare economy because speakers at the event, both international and local, would offer insights and their own experiences.
“Healthcare 20/20 is bringing together collective wisdom that can give us the tools to create a system that not only works for us, but for our children and our children’s children... We have the will, the speakers at the 20/20 conference will help provide the way,” the minister said.
Sidney Ebanks, president of the Medical and Dental Society, said: “Quality and affordability is usually a very difficult balance to achieve,” adding to achieve such a balance may lead to “some very uncomfortable arithmetic”.
He said there were many articles in the medical and mainstream press on the topic of how to achieve affordable, quality healthcare and there were now even university courses on that subject, and that although the theme of this year’s conference was not new, “no-one can doubt that this exercise is vital”. Among those who will be speaking at the healthcare conference, which will be held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel from 17-19 November, Keith Allred of HB Strategy Group, who will speak on conflict resolution and change management; Ralph Lawson, of Baptist International, who will talk on the importance of metrics; Brent James from Intermountain who will discuss defensive medicine and the impact of the use of technology; and Tomas Philipson, a healthcare economist from the University of Chicago who will compare and contrast differing healthcare models. Other speakers include: Cindy Jimmerson, of Lean Healthcare West, who will look at reducing cost by reducing waste; Renee-Marie Stephano, president of the Medical Tourism Association who will present an overview of the impact of medical tourism on local economies; Elinor Caplan, former Canadian provincial minister of health, now of Canada Strategies Inc, who will discuss healthcare from an international perspective; Dr. Jennifer Attride-Stirling, CEO of the Bermuda Health Council; Dr. Paul Nisselle of MPS will give an international perspective on insurance; and the Health Services Authority’s chief information officer, Dale Sanders, and Seth Avery, of Applied Revenue Analytics, who will examine healthcare financing and economic reform.
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