Response to Unsolicited Essay

Statement by the Rev. Jeff Aiken, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lehigh Valley Health Network

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (March 2, 2006) – The Rev. Jeff Aiken, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) has released the following statement to the media regarding the “unsolicited essay” from Robert Young:

I am extremely proud and grateful to represent Lehigh Valley Health Network as the chairman of its Board of Trustees. Under the leadership of the board—both past and present members—and our CEO and president, Dr. Elliot Sussman, and his management team, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network has grown into a strong community resource that provides the highest quality care. Last year alone, our doctors, nurses and staff cared for more people than ever before in our more than 100-year history. And we project we will be caring for even more people in the years to come because we’re living longer and are almost certain to have additional health care needs.

That’s why I take it personally when a community member challenges the outstanding results of the hard work and dedication of this organization’s leadership, management team, physicians, nurses and other staff.

Much has changed in the Lehigh Valley and in health care in the last 16 years. In healthcare today, telemedicine saves lives and helps care for people, from our intensive care units to their own homes. Gamma Knife technology to treat brain tumors didn’t exist 16 years ago. Times have changed. And we certainly know that we had to change with them or suffer the consequences.

Leonard Pool, whose generosity and vision were instrumental in the creation of what is now Lehigh Valley Hospital, firmly believed that the Lehigh Valley was deserving of a health care facility that would provide the very best in care in order to avoid having patients and their families travel long distances for that purpose. We are guided by Leonard Pool’s belief and our mission to provide the highest level of care to the people of our community—right here. We believe they deserve that.

Personally, I have firsthand experience regarding the need for expansion at the hospital. Three of my parishioners wanted very much to be cared for here, but there were no beds available and they had to go to another hospital, which was not their first choice. Anyone who has gone to our ER and needed to wait for a bed understands our need for expansion. Anyone who has visited a patient knows we need more parking.

As more and more people rely on high quality health care, a financially strong hospital is good for our community. Our $75 million surplus means we are financially strong. That surplus goes right back to the community to pay for new facilities, programs, equipment and technology, assuring the latest treatments available. In FY05, when the $75 million surplus was accrued, LVH invested, in capital expenditures alone, more than $115 million to benefit the Lehigh Valley. This surplus was attained by working hard to be as efficient as possible and by controlling costs in the extremely complex environment of health care today. Today, our costs are lower than 75 percent of the hospitals like ours in the country. Ten years ago, our costs were lower than only about 30 percent of similar hospitals. More than 40 percent of like hospitals in the state have higher charges. Just five years ago, government budget decisions and the managed care health care environment led to a more than $1 million loss in our network. Making operations more efficient while continuing to provide high quality care, which our community expects, helped to turn things around.

Over the past ten year period, our average surplus was 3 percent. There is an understanding in the health care industry that a 5 percent surplus is the minimum necessary to keep up with capital improvements and replacements, let alone expand or invest in the latest technology. Wisely investing in capital improvements also makes for a better healing environment. By operating efficiently, we have had a surplus available to invest in new programs and equipment, assuring that our community has the latest treatments available.

And that includes patients and families who struggle to make ends meet or can’t afford health insurance. We delivered $84.1 million in charity care and community service last year. In 1997, the Institutions of Purely Public Charity Act was signed into law, bringing a legislatively controlled, consistent statewide approach to an area that, until then, allowed the courts to deal with the cases involving charities in an ad hoc manner. Lehigh Valley Hospital clearly satisfies all the requirements of that act. That $84.1 million included free care for people who are underinsured or uninsured, free classes, screenings, health fairs, thousands of community flu shots and physicians’ hours in caring for those in need. Over the past four years we have cared for more patients enrolled in Medicaid than ever before, 80 percent more right now than at the same time in 2002…and LVHHN enrolls more than 41 percent of all Medicaid eligible patients in Lehigh County.

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