How Will Healthcare Change?

DAYTON - About 50 local residents, including healthcare providers and community leaders, gath- ered here Tuesday evening for a presentation by the Washington Rural Health Association and to discuss upcoming changes in rural healthcare. Several partici- pants also shared ideas about how health outcomes could be improved in our area.

The Roundtable was sponsored by the Columbia County Health System, which operates Dayton General Hospital and clinics in Dayton and Waitsburg.

The meeting was facili- tated by Sue Deitz, who is Director of the Eastern Washington Critical Access Hospital Network.

Deitz began by presenting a series of statistics compar- ing the CCHS service area to the state and the U.S. in several demographic and healthcare categories. Areas of concern for local residents were pointed out, such as obesity and incidence of diabetes. Overall, Columbia County ranks in the middle of Washington counties in healthcare outcomes. Deitz also pointed out that the U.S. ranks among the worst in terms of health outcomes among rich countries.

In her presentation Deitz then discussed how rural healthcare providers nation- wide are working to improve the healthcare system. She said providers are using an approach called "Triple Aim," which consists of three elements: Improving health; improving care; and lowering costs. "Triple Aim is something I hear about whenever I apply for health- care grants," she said.

After providing an over- view of what local and na- tional healthcare looks like now, the presentation turned to the changes that need to be made. "What does a healthy community look like?" Deitz asked. She said one of the most important changes is for local entities, such as healthcare providers, schools, emergency services and other government agen- cies to work together more on ways to make local resi- dents healthier.

When the audience was asked for input, several speakers talked about the im- portance of group activities relating to improving health. It might be people working out together or encouraging each other in lowering cho- lesterol and blood pressure. "It brings in the guilt factor," one speaker said.

Discussion then turned to the Affordable Healthcare Act - known as Obamacare. Several speakers pointed out that Washington's state healthcare exchange that was introduced earlier this month - wahealthplanfinder.com - is among the most successful in the nation, and has had far fewer glitches than most others, including the national exchange, for states that didn't implement their own.