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 Hospital Plans for the Future - Part II
(Posted January 16, 2006)
By Ken Bank, President and CEO of Northfield Hospital
A few weeks ago, I explained that with a new medical campus and a comprehensive information system now in place, the strategic focus for Northfield Hospital over the next several years will be to expand medical services both in and around Northfield. I also described four Critical Success Factors in achieving this vision, one of which was to create a system of primary care clinics to support the expansion of the physician base utilizing Northfield Hospital, particularly in primary care areas such as family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics and Ob/Gyn. I would like to explain why this is such an important effort.
First and foremost, we want to provide healthcare services where they are needed within our service area. Not so many years ago, that service area did not extend far beyond the city limits of Northfield or the boundaries of the Northfield School District. Today, however, we serve patients from a much broader geographic area, reflecting the fact that we are becoming more of a regional health destination. Nearby communities to our west and north are among the most rapidly growing in Minnesota, but so far the development of healthcare services in those areas has not kept pace with population growth. Over time, other healthcare providers are certain to enter those market areas, and we believe that now is the time for us to take steps that will more closely link regional patients to Northfield.
The second reason for expanding our base of physicians is to improve our organizational efficiency and cost effectiveness. Every hospital has an array of services that must be kept in 24-hour operation, requiring a minimum or “core” level of staffing to do so. For example, our emergency department, laboratory and medical imaging departments are staffed around the clock. The same is true for our medical/surgical unit, our obstetrics unit and our nursing home. Surgery staff is always either in-house or on call. Currently, we do not have the patient volume to maximize the workloads that our “core” staff could handle. This means that more patients could be cared for without significant increases in expenses, thereby making our overall operation more efficient and cost effective. In the long run, this enables us to moderate the increase in our costs and charges as much as possible.
Finally, growing our base of primary care physicians creates a larger patient population necessary for the development of a broad array of physician specialty practices. By itself, Northfield is able to support very few specialty practices. Orthopedics and Women’s Health are examples of practices that have been very successful and have brought great value to the community. But there are many other specialties where our community and region are underserved. Some in which we currently have only minimal coverage -- such as ear, nose and throat and urology -- could be easily expanded by attracting a greater number of patients from surrounding communities. Others, like cardiology and cancer care require even larger patient populations and will take longer to develop into full-time practices.
The opportunity to incrementally increase availability and accessibility of care for patients can be realized by expanding our market presence through the development of several regional clinics. The first of these clinics is already in operation in the city of Lonsdale. Staffed by two very capable family practice physicians – Dr. Greig Glover and Dr. Griff Kelley – this facility has been strongly welcomed by the community and is already exceeding our expectations for the number of patients being seen.
In 2006, our clinic development activities will continue moving ahead at full speed, starting in early spring with ground breaking in the city of Farmington for a new clinic of nearly 15,000 sq/ft. It will be staffed by physicians specializing in the areas of family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics and will also offer, on a scheduled basis, the services of a number of specialty physicians, including general surgery, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, and occupational medicine. Soon thereafter, we expect to break ground for another clinic to be located on our own campus here in Northfield. It will house the Women’s Health Center, which has already outgrown its temporary clinic space in the hospital, and will also house a variety of other physicians who have joined, or will be joining, our hospital-sponsored physician group in 2006. In 2007, it is our plan to develop a fourth clinic that will also be located in the south metro area. Its physician mix is expected to be the same as in Farmington, including the availability of several physician specialists.
A fact that is probably little known in the community is that Northfield Hospital already has 17 physicians working with us under either employment agreements or professional service contracts. With the development of our clinics over the next two years, we expect the number of physicians to nearly double; thereby increasing the choice and accessibility of physician practices available throughout the region, but especially to residents of Northfield.
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