USD Arena - Sanford in for $20,000,000

[Bison bison]

because the credit card business is critical to sioux falls' economy.

glad to know you bought into the star tribune's smear job.

[bisonaudit]

because the credit card business is critical to sioux falls' economy.

glad to know you bought into the star tribune's smear job.

Weak sauce. Is Sanford Health weighing in on the Ag Bill, too?

[wow]

Weak sauce. Is Sanford Health weighing in on the Ag Bill, too?

I seem to remember Mayo having some issues with trains going through Rochester and lobbying pretty hard against it. They even hired a former Senate Majority Leader to do their lobbying in DC. Seems a little more extreme than the CEO of a Midwestern hospital writing a letter (gasp)...

[BlueBisonRock]

I seem to remember Mayo having some issues with trains going through Rochester and lobbying pretty hard against it. They even hired a former Senate Majority Leader to do their lobbying in DC. Seems a little more extreme than the CEO of a Midwestern hospital writing a letter (gasp)...

Although a CEO sending a lobbying letter does not bother me, your comparison does. Please google DM&E and the city of Rochester to understand exactly why this action by Mayo is on a whole different level than Sanford Health.

[THEsocalledfan]

Wow, what a load of crap I am reading. Sanford is successful because:

1. We figured out how to leverage a major donor to help offset bonding costs and using the name to raise our profile via research, etc.
2. Modern healthcare consumers demand modern facilities and amenities. This part of the reason for building. Does anyone on here even realize we are partly paid based on patient perception? Go read about the HCAPS score.
3. Another reason for the new facilities is the need for room to do procedures. If you remember a certain conversation I had on this board with Carrington Bison, you would know that Medicare is a completely f^cked up system that over rewards people for doing procedures. Naturally, this is where hospital/MD's want to invest. It is part of the reason for the financial success of Sanford.
4. The margins in health care are razor thin. It is basically "grow or die" at this point. Thus, Sanford is building to grow, even though their bond rating has slipped, slightly. This is also why they are aggressively pursuing combinations to gain economies of scale.

Sanford is a quality organization with excellent leadership. I don't agree with everything they do, but they are a fine company to work for and provide top level care. The Minnesota AG was grandstanding for votes and it was shameful at best, harmful to her state at worst. The idea of the University Hospital doing better as University run rather than private run was when you knew this was idiotic since they changed it to private run since the university was incompetent in running it.....

[Trumpster]

4. The margins in health care are razor thin. It is basically "grow or die" at this point.

LOL, Have you seen the TIME article on the costs of healthcare? This is what I could pull up without a sub to TIME.
It is ridiculous.

[PattyBison]

Wow, what a load of crap I am reading. Sanford is successful because:

1. We figured out how to leverage a major donor to help offset bonding costs and using the name to raise our profile via research, etc.
2. Modern healthcare consumers demand modern facilities and amenities. This part of the reason for building. Does anyone on here even realize we are partly paid based on patient perception? Go read about the HCAPS score.
3. Another reason for the new facilities is the need for room to do procedures. If you remember a certain conversation I had on this board with Carrington Bison, you would know that Medicare is a completely f^cked up system that over rewards people for doing procedures. Naturally, this is where hospital/MD's want to invest. It is part of the reason for the financial success of Sanford.
4. The margins in health care are razor thin. It is basically "grow or die" at this point. Thus, Sanford is building to grow, even though their bond rating has slipped, slightly. This is also why they are aggressively pursuing combinations to gain economies of scale.

Sanford is a quality organization with excellent leadership. I don't agree with everything they do, but they are a fine company to work for and provide top level care. The Minnesota AG was grandstanding for votes and it was shameful at best, harmful to her state at worst. The idea of the University Hospital doing better as University run rather than private run was when you knew this was idiotic since they changed it to private run since the university was incompetent in running it.....

With all due respect, I disagree. You really have drank the kool-aid, or perhaps the situation is better in Sioux Falls than Fargo. I have noticed severe degredation in the quality of service from Sanford in both the areas of billings and patient care since Sanford "merged" with Meritcare. In fact, I have not moved most of my medical care from Minneapolis to Fargo due to the problems that my family and friends have had with Sanford in the past year.

I don't feel Sanford has evil intentions, however, I do believe that their expansion plans are occurring much too quickly and as a result, their patient care and employee morale (at least in Fargo) is sufferering. I have worked at and consulted with a number of large companies who have completed large acquisitions and it takes a LOT of time to integrate the culture, accounting systems, patient records, etc. The pace at which Sanford is growing is mind boggling and frankly scary.

Frankly, I welcome the increased scrutiny into Sanford.

[THEsocalledfan]

LOL, Have you seen the TIME article on the costs of healthcare? This is what I could pull up without a sub to TIME.
It is ridiculous.

I can't read it, so you will have to enlighten me.

Also, you have to realize that healthcare charges and what is paid are two completely different things. And its because Medicare is so messed up charges look to be so high, yet no one actually pays those rates except the uninsured. (Yes, as I stated, it is a messed up system.) Everyone else, at a minimum gets a negotiated lower rate with your insurer, and often your insurer then pays the bill. (Or, your insurer pays a per patient per month fee to a health-system and they never really get paid anything.) And why are charges so high? To make up for under payment from Medicare and to help fund the building needed to keep up..... (You don't negotiate your payment rate with Medicare; they tell you, so next time you have a politician tell you Medicare runs much cheaper than private insurance, remind them they have artificially low prices they are paying.)

Most article written for the average public completely negates all this. And the charges are exacerbated by the building boom due to procedures, stupid Medicare payment rates, etc. It is a viscous cycle and until we get politicians who are willing to take on tough choices, the system will eventually completely implode.

I really think there are only two good choices to fix it all: Universal coverage through the government while likely much higher taxes, or completely get the government out of healthcare. It just doesn't work "in between" as we are now.

And neither will happen, so the system will implode.

[Trumpster]

It's like 24000 words and 36 pages in the magazine, there's no way I could give it any justice. The author did interview with John Stewart, which would probably give a better indication of the entails of the article.
Extended part 1
Part 2
Part 3

[THEsocalledfan]

With all due respect, I disagree. You really have drank the kool-aid, or perhaps the situation is better in Sioux Falls than Fargo. I have noticed severe degredation in the quality of service from Sanford in both the areas of billings and patient care since Sanford "merged" with Meritcare. In fact, I have not moved most of my medical care from Minneapolis to Fargo due to the problems that my family and friends have had with Sanford in the past year.

I don't feel Sanford has evil intentions, however, I do believe that their expansion plans are occurring much too quickly and as a result, their patient care and employee morale (at least in Fargo) is sufferering. I have worked at and consulted with a number of large companies who have completed large acquisitions and it takes a LOT of time to integrate the culture, accounting systems, patient records, etc. The pace at which Sanford is growing is mind boggling and frankly scary.

Frankly, I welcome the increased scrutiny into Sanford.

I live and work at the mother ship in Sioux Falls, so I cannot argue with your premise. Realize that Sanford created a specific job for me, recruited me away from the U of M (yes, I was a long time MN taxpayer, thus why I was so enraged by the grandstanding), and gave me the political support I needed to improve patient care for patients on anticoagulants. They even stood up to some of their biggest, high revenue doctors to help us get moving in our work. They have been rewarded with better service to their patient and providing state of the art care in this regard. This took time, money, and resources, and Sanford had lost nothing but money on the deal, yet they did it as it was the right thing to do for patients.

That is why I will defend them to my death.