Redefining Health Care Together

Dear Neighbor,

Anyone who lives in the greater Everett metropolitan area can see how much the health care industry has changed in a very short time. It wasn't so long ago that seeking medical care was pretty straight forward: when you got sick, you went to your physician. If you were really sick, you'd go to the hospital.

But as our knowledge of medicine advanced, health care became more specialized and costs increased dramatically. Now, we as a society find ourselves at a crossroad. How do we maintain our high level of care while stabilizing costs? This dilemma has brought about the current efforts to reform our health care delivery system. With the advent of health care reform, going to the doctor isn't as simple as it once was.

This is especially true where hospitals are concerned. Once the hub of all health related services, hospitals across the nation have experienced a dramatic decrease in the number of patients, fewer patient-days and a marked increase in the demand for outpatient and alternative care.

This fundamental shift is the way health care is delivered became quite evident to the Boards at Providence Hospital Everett and General Hospital Medical Center more than 18 months ago. It was then these once spirited competitors met to discuss the possibility of creating a new organization to provide care to the community – one that would continue the General and Providence legacies of providing quality care in an environment where human dignity is the bottom line.

Putting aside their differences and leveraging off their strengths, the two organizations merged together to form Providence General Medical Center (PGMC). It was not an end, but a beginning; the first step in a very long journey to redefine health care in Snohomish County and provide its citizens with an integrated delivery system that sets the standard others will follow.

Historically, health care was concentrated on treating illness. While the new health care model, known as an integrated delivery system, still treats illness, it places even more emphasis on prevention and wellness. It puts the patient at the center of the health care cycle and provides a full range of coordinated services including health promotion, disease/accident prevention, outpatient care, specialty care, long term care, home services and hospital care.

The advantages of such a system are many. In an integrated delivery system, each of the patient's health care partners coordinate the treatment and follow-up so the patient has a seamless and consistent level of care. Because health professionals share important patient information, health services are coordinated more efficiently.

By coordinating care, health care providers such as Providence General Medical Center and its many partners are able to control costs, invest in new technologies and improve the quality of care provided patients through the region.

Let's look at two good examples of how PGMC is doing this: ...