• Government
• Profession
• Business
• Opinion
• Health

• Health reform
• H1N1
• P4P
• EMRs
• Medicare
• Liability
• AMA House
• » More

• Book Excerpt
• Business Pitch
• Meetings
• » More

• Contract Language
• Ethics Forum
• In the Courts
• Practice Management
• Technically Speaking
• » More

• Bby date
• Regions
• Health plans
• Sections
• News briefs
• Columns
• Editorials
• Letters
• Writers
• Other years

• Search tips
• E-mail alert
• Radio
• RSS
• Mobile
• Subscribe
• Institutions
• Staff directory
• Advertising
• Permissions
• Reprints
• News media
• Site guide
• Useful links
• About
• Premium
• Contact

Battle of the beds: When does enough hospitals become too many?

Indianapolis is a perfect example of the rise of specialty hospitals -- and the debate that follows regarding how they affect health care costs and the quality of patient care.

By Mike Norbut, amednews staff. May 5, 2003.

• PRINT|
• E-MAIL|
• RESPOND|
• REPRINTS|
• SHARE

Indianapolis is encircled by a highway but surrounded by hospitals vying to care for ailing hearts.

Two shiny new facilities, The Heart Center of Indiana and The Indiana Heart Hospital, have opened north of the downtown area within the past six months. They both boast $60 million price tags, partial physician ownership and the most advanced digital technology money can buy.

Also, there's Clarian Health Partners' model on the west side of the city: a hospital within a hospital, a $30 million cardiac care facility carved out of renovated space and new construction in Methodist Hospital, one of the city's largest medical centers.

And to the south, St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers is planning to build a $60 million, 112-bed cardiac care center on the sprawling campus of its new flagship facility.

Time is muscle when it comes to cardiac care, and if someone has a heart attack in downtown Indianapolis, care is waiting within minutes in nearly every direction.

"If I get sick anywhere around the [Interstate 465] beltway, I know I'm going to be all right," said H. "Buzz" Hickman, MD, a cardiologist with Indiana Heart Physicians and one of the pioneers of the cardiovascular program at St. Francis.

But all right at what cost?

A recent trend among doctors is to invest in specialty hospitals either with or without support from the community hospital. Physicians see these facilities as a chance to gain clinical and financial control over their work, and say they can achieve better results at a lower cost. More specialty hospitals in a market will provide a competitive atmosphere, which can only help keep costs down and raise the bar for general hospitals, proponents say.