By KEVIN CHIRI
Tammany West news
COVINGTON – The face of health care is changing as 2014 rolls around and Patti Ellish believes there is already evidence that the providers in charge of the system can make it a positive new look.
“It’s going to be about staying focused on what we can do to change, and it’s about focusing on the community where we work,” said the CEO of the St. Tammany Parish Hospital.
Ellish said the real change in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that President Obama pushed through two years ago will be about changing a community to do the things needed to stay healthier. But she said there is evidence the providers in the health care system can make that happen.
“If you look at several other problems from the past—smoking, breast cancer, other forms of cancer—we focused on educating the public about getting preventative care and screenings,” she said. “Now smokers have decreased, colon, prostate and rectal cancer has gone down thanks to testing, and breast cancer has gone down since woman are getting their mammograms.”
Ellish said those examples prove that society can change, if providers lead the way in a community.
“Early prevention and screening is the key to this change, and seeing your primary care specialist to avoid problems is critical,” she added. “We need a collaboration of providers, all working with local leaders, to shape health care for our future. And that means teaching the public about preventative care.”
She believes that will be accomplished by spending dollars at health fairs, through social media and other means to encourage the public to take responsibility for their health.
Ellish did say that the Obamacare system is changing the providers from “episodic care to comprehensive care,” which she believes will lead to better management of chronic diseases.
Ellish has seen health care from both sides of the industry—starting as a nurse at West Jefferson Hospital, where she worked for 21 years—then returning to school to obtain her Masters Degree in Health Care administration, leading to being hired as a chief operating officer in East Texas. She said her five years there was a great learning experience thanks to a CEO who helped teach her many things, and trusted her to oversee three hospitals and an expansion project.
Originally from the New Orleans area, she said the opportunity to come to the North Shore as CEO of St. Tammany Hospital was perfect for her since “there is nothing like being home.” She is now guiding a $21 million expansion of the emergency room which she said will ensure the hospital is ready for the growth continuing in the area.
“A focus for us is to be certain we have the facilities needed in this area since St. Tammany continues to grow and we are responding to that growth,” Ellish said. “Health care is an important aspect in a community and a true component of why people want to live in an area. In St. Tammany we have the finest of care and it is a big reason many people want to live here.”
Along with the growth in St. Tammany will be an added patient load close to 3 percent with millions more having health insurance in 2014. Ellish said she wants her hospital to become “a center of excellence” for various diseases so the community knows they can count on St. Tammany Hospital for the resources to be proactive in dealing with the diseases.
“We have seen that the public is responding to the education we have offered,” she said. “Our health fairs are having increased numbers so the community is already moving in the direction of preventative care. The message is being heard.”
One concern for Ellish is the difficulty providers are having in being paid for services, not to mention the time-consuming aspect of getting approval for many procedures.
“There is such bureaucracy around payments and that system really needs to be simplified,” she said. “Then there is the matter of the authorization for almost every test and procedure. There is such a burden on providers to go through all that, not to mention having to go back and verify information to get paid. I have real criticism for that end of the system, trying to be paid for the services we provided.”
Ellish said she was directed to nursing when a nurse at a Chappelle High School career day had an impact on her.
“I listened to her that day and thought I would love to do what she did,” she said. “My parents wondered if it was right for me, but I went straight to Charity School of Nursing and graduated in three years.”
Ellish said she enjoyed her years in nursing since she could end a day and feel like she did something positive for others.
“When I walked to my car every day, I knew I had done something to help others,” she said. “That was the thing I loved about nursing, and still the thing I love about what I do today. This profession allows me to make a difference.”
She said her parents instilled a drive in her to achieve something special, after her father only made it through the eighth grade and her mother finished high school.
“My parents were always pushing us to do something better than they did,” she said. “They wanted us to achieve something special and motivated us to do that.”
Ellish and her husband have two children of their own, a son who is a chef at Emeril’s restaurant, and a daughter who is a nurse practitioner.
“One thing about this industry is that you won’t be doing it for long if you do not love it,” she said. “For me, I do think it was a calling and I still see it that way today.”