The residents of the Vineyard have long wondered why we have to wait five to six hours to be seen and treated in the emergency room at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. There has never been an answer given by the hospital, and that is frustrating. Another question that we have asked is why it costs roughly $800 to walk into the emergency room, and then have to pay $42.50 for a bandage or another $9.50 for a single aspirin.

We have just learned one of the reasons when the hospital recently reported its financial statements for the last year. The hospital had a day care program for 14 employees that cost in excess of $100,000. How many local employers here on the Vineyard have the luxury of a day care center for their employees? I wonder if executive director Tim Walsh runs his own personal household with such disdain and disregard for financial responsibility. Who paid for this day care center? It was certainly not the 14 hospital employees, but it was we the local residents who use the facilities of the hospital. Is there no restraint on keeping the cost of medical attention down to a reasonable level?

The hospital reported that they wiped out almost $3 million in bad debt. Mr. Walsh’s explanation was: “Bad debt is uncomplicated. Patients come into the hospital and receive care, and then do not pay the bill. It all adds up.” Who pays for this bad debt? It is certainly not Tim Walsh with his high salary and perks, but it is the local, hard-working residents who struggle to pay our insurance premiums that we are required to pay under Massachusetts law.

What do other hospitals or even other business concerns do when they have bad debts? They attempt earnestly to collect them. When one goes to the emergency room for any kind of service, a detailed questionnaire is filled out with one’s home ownership and current place of employment. If payment is not made after numerous collection calls, the case is put through the court system to collect payment. It might be an attachment on the equity of the debtor’s real estate or maybe an attachment of the debtor’s wages. This information is not a secret, as it is in the questionnaire filled out at the commencement of the rendered medical services.

The collection of this bad debt would not even cost the hospital anything extra, as the terms of the contract provide for collection fees to be added to the overdue account. Upon checking the local court dockets, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital does not seem to take this avenue of recovering this $3 million. Like the free day care center used by just 14 of their employees for a mere $100,000, the hospital just adds the expense of $3 million to those working people who have to pay $800 to walk into the emergency room and pay $9.50 for an aspirin.

Last year the hospital reported the receipt of $48 million for net patient services, and wrote off $3 million in bad debt. Many of us really feel that Martha’s Vineyard Hospital can use a little more effort to collect this $3 million so that the rest of us do not have to struggle at the end of each month to pay our ever-increasing medical insurance premiums. We all struggled to make our contributions to build our magnificent hospital here on the Vineyard, and so is it not feasible for the hospital to help us lower costs?

 

Bruce Erickson lives in Vineyard Haven.