March 8th, 2010

Reports the Times-Tribune:

High unemployment naturally has focused attention on prospects for near-term economic recovery. But Northeast Pennsylvania has prospects for a massive long-term economic stimulus – creation of an academic medical center rooted in the Commonwealth Medical College – that requires long-term vision and commitment.

Combining the resources of three city hospitals and other regional hospitals, Allied Services and other providers, along with local universities, into a high-level comprehensive care system coupled with TCMC’s teaching and research capabilities, offers the region an entire new economic course. Such a system offers the prospect of substantial growth and long-term sustainability, a combination lacking in any other segment of the local economy.

The need is great. The perilous economic conditions of several local hospitals, coupled with the rapidly changing health care economy, mandate aggressive change for the good of the institutions and for regional access to quality health care.

And not just need, but opportunity is knocking. An academic health care center would raise the bar for care. Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania says that local folks spend about $1.2 billion on medical services outside of this region. Capturing even half of that through high-level services at an academic medical center would provide an extraordinary economic boost for the region. And it would be just the beginning. As such a center develops, it would reverse the model, making Northeast Pennsylvania a destination for medical services.

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