Area hospital CEOs top latest list of Wishard referendum supporters

The outpouring support for a new Wishard Hospital grew this week as CEOs of several Indianapolis hospital networks delivered their endorsement of the Wishard referendum.

Hospital CEOs Daniel Evans of Clarian Health, Vince Caponi of St. Vincent Health, Robert Brody of St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers and Bryan Mills of Community Health Network support a new Wishard and agree that Wishard is vital to the care of Indianapolis residents.

“Wishard Hospital has the busiest emergency room in the state and operates at 98 percent capacity,” said Caponi. “It simply would be impossible for all of the other hospitals combined in Marion County to accommodate the patient load and the cost of care if Wishard were to close. Wishard is important to the future of healthcare in Marion County as well as the training of doctors which practice in all of our hospitals. We need a new Wishard.”

In other large cities, closure of the public hospital has caused tremendous strain on other area health care facilities. In Detroit, closure of Riverview Hospital has led to financial struggles on the part of the three remaining downtown hospitals, which reported nearly record-high levels of uncompensated care in 2007 along with lower operating profits than in the previous several years.

In the nation’s capitol, D.C. General Hospital closed in May 2001 and the resulting influx of patients at neighboring Prince George’s County and Greater Southeast Community hospitals caused such financial struggles that Prince George’s County is now on the brink of bankruptcy or closure.

“Wishard provides high value services to this community that are potentially compromised by the limited potential of existing space,” said Brody. “Creating contemporary facilities to continue the essential mission of Wishard should be a priority of the highest order for the citizens of Marion County.”

“All of the major hospitals in Marion County support a new Wishard,” said Mills. “It is the community’s safety-net hospital providing needed care to underserved populations. Without Wishard, our community would lack the health care capacity and care would be compromised.”

“Clarian Health and Indiana University support the construction of a new Wishard Hospital in order to better serve the Wishard mission and to enhance the ongoing training of physicians through the Indiana University School of Medicine,” said Evans, in a statement co-signed by Indiana University School of Medicine Dean D. Craig Brater and IU President Michael McRobbie. “We believe that this can be accomplished in a collaborative way that utilizes the strengths of all three institutions to ensure that safe, modern and efficient health care services are available for all citizens of Indianapolis.”

For more information, visit WishardYes.org.