Posted by Julie L'Heureux

(L-R: Charlie Therrien, President Laura Young and Dave Small.) 

Dave Small introduced Charlie Therrien, President of Mercy Hospital in Portland. Dave was on the search committee that helped interview the candidates who applied last year for the Mercy Hospital leadership position. Therrien came to the forefront because of his experience in Maine and his work in both the non-profit and for-profit healthcare sectors. During his talk, Charlie provided an update on the hospital and spoke about current federal and state-level issues impacting healthcare.

Mercy Hospital is a community hospital in Portland, founded in 1918 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Sisters of Mercy. There are 1600 employees who work in the system. The hospital is part of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (EMHS). Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Mercy Hospital.

“Mercy Hospital is recognized by our patients as having cared for generations of families, who have strong ties to the hospital,” he said, “It’s no secret that healthcare today is changing at the state and national levels. Mercy has seen its share of changes in recent years. Thankfully, these changes have allowed Mercy to reorganize into a more efficient hospital that continues to put the patients first.”

The hospital has gone through a remarkable turnaround and is now projected to break even financially—a sharp contrast from the financial losses of the previous couple of fiscal years. This puts Mercy in a positive position to initiate a capital campaign for the purpose of consolidating operations at their Fore River waterfront campus within the next 3-5 years. Mercy’s goal is to efficiently maintain and increase service offerings while placing a greater emphasis on healthy communities through the promotion of preventative services and primary care.

Despite the recent news on EMHS’s bond rating, Mercy’s care delivery and ability to implement its goals is not impacted. In fact, Mercy is among the hospitals that are changing how health care is delivered through moving from episodic care for treatment and reimbursement, to a modern care model where patients are assigned to the right providers to receive a full continuum of care. The goal is to keep people healthier.

Mr. Therrien stated that healthcare costs are tough on small businesses. While the implementation of the Affordable Care Act allowed hospitals and other healthcare providers to innovate and make strides in promoting healthier outcomes and reducing some costs, premiums and deductibles remain a challenge from the patient and provider perspective. In some case, even patients who have insurance are unable to pay for their care. This causes costs to be shifted to other payers, adding to the increasing health care costs overall.

During Q&A, one question was asked about single-payer healthcare systems like those in Canada? Charlie explained that healthcare consumers in the U.S expect to receive the services they request right away, while the Canadian system regulates the volume of procedures, which can mean significant waiting times for elective procedures. Also, much of the cost of healthcare is picked up by the government/tax payers in a single-payer system. Significant differences  must be considered when comparing one system to the other.