Category: Opinion

Read the full op-ed, published in PennLive, here and below.

Pennsylvania lawmakers can show how to put patients above politics | Opinion

By Regan Parker

Pennsylvanians have a health care access problem. The state has lost 26 hospitals in the past five years – most recently, Crozer Health – leaving many rural and underserved communities scrambling for answers to meet demand.

These closures and the impact on local communities underscore the need for more oversight, transparency, and accountability in the Pennsylvania healthcare system to prevent future tragedies and access gaps. However, effective reforms must put patients over politics and avoid the unintended consequences that come from prioritizing punishment rather than prevention.

Unfortunately, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed approach – which recently passed in the state’s House of Representatives and is now on its way to the Senate – falls short.

While well-intentioned, his proposal targets specific ownership structures instead of addressing the real issues: state and federal governments cannot be the sole solution to the healthcare access crisis. They already are stretched thin.

The governor’s response would pile on sweeping restrictions that would essentially create a system of political gatekeeping over who gets to operate a hospital. The increased regulatory burden would not improve access but instead stifle the infusion of private investment working to rescue systems on the verge of failing.

While it’s clear that some systems owned by private investors have failed due to mismanagement, many nonprofit and publicly traded hospital systems have experienced bad outcomes, as well. The governor’s approach focuses on punishment after the fact rather than on proactive ways to prevent hospital failures from the outset.

Legal frameworks that presume bad faith based on ownership structure alone risk deterring the very investment needed to keep struggling hospitals afloat and leave our healthcare system vulnerable to future closures. In many cases, responsible private investors have stepped up in situations where hospitals were already bankrupt or neglected by previous owners.

The real threat isn’t who owns the hospital; it’s whether there are clear guidelines to ensure patients come first and that the doctor-patient relationship is preserved. Without transparency and accountability, bad outcomes can—and do—occur under any ownership model.

In Pennsylvania and states across the country, there is a better, more constructive path forward that lawmakers should consider. The approach would strengthen oversight and raise standards for all types of hospital ownership while preserving the doctor-patient relationship and ensuring patients remain at the center. A more proactive strategy focuses on ensuring that clinical decisions stay in the hands of licensed providers. That would include banning quotas or incentivized treatment plans that put profits before patients.

In addition to keeping the focus on patients, legislators can create a framework that guides both nonprofit and for-profit investments to ensure they are done responsibly, especially for essential community hospitals. In cases where a hospital is the only facility serving a region, owners should commit to financial transparency and safeguards like annual solvency reporting, early warnings before closures, and community notice requirements. These safeguards can help spur necessary intervention before communities lose access to essential services, like those that Crozer Health was providing.

That is exactly what the organization I lead, the Association for Responsible Healthcare Investment (ARHI), is working to advance: common-sense reforms that encourage transparency, accountability, and clinical integrity. This approach would hold bad actors accountable. It also empowers responsible investors and providers who are doing the right thing.

It allows entry to those committed to patient-centered care and creates a system that is accessible, high quality, and responsive to community needs. That’s what every Pennsylvanian deserves. The Commonwealth has an opportunity to lead the nation in this area. Let’s partner to achieve that vision together.

Regan Parker serves as CEO of the Association for Responsible Healthcare Investment.