FOR SALE: two hospitals, each centrally located among urban or suburban settings; well-used; currently vacated. All inquiries, contact your potential competition.
When Medical Center of Independence and Independence Regional were owned by the non-profit Health Midwest, it was simply part of their mandate to serve the public. As Health Midwest allowed itself to be acquired by for-profit HCA, however, that mandate changed, and with it changed the landscape of health care in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
It was by this twist of fate that Independence allowed for-profit HCA to own all of the city’s hospital assets. And what did HCA do? They closed the two existing hospitals and built a new one among a more profitable demographic. This was crass profiteering at the expense of the many elderly, disabled, and poor residents living outside of HCA’s favored demographic, southeast Independence.
Adequate access to health care, especially emergency care, is not just a luxury: it is a necessity of life, and it is a serious concern for the residents of northern and western Independence. In fact, northwest Independence is closer to North Kansas City Hospital than to the new Centerpoint Medical Center.
Here is the lesson we should be learning from the situation: Public policy must encourage competition for our health care dollars. A century of public policy at the federal level has been based on the knowledge that competition in the market serves the public’s best interest. It was the principle behind anti-trust legislation and enforcement.
The market for health care spending in Independence is certainly large enough to support the competition.
Independence, Missouri has a population of approximately 113,000, and currently is served by one hospital, Centerpoint Medical Center of Independence, owned and operated by HCA Midwest. By comparison, neighboring Lee’s Summit, with an estimated population of just 82,500, has three hospitals: Lee’s Summit Medical, St. Luke’s East, and Truman Medical Center Lakewood (technically in Kansas City).
So here’s a thought for Medical Center of Independence and Independence Regional: Find or create a non-profit hospital system to reopen and operate these hospitals without the burden of a profit motive. We could engage an organization such as Truman Medical Center to do this, or create a non-profit organization similar to TMC that could provide high-quality health care services and encourage meaningful competition in the marketplace.
It is vital to our public health that everyone in Independence have adequate access to health care.
