Over the past several years, Naples Comprehensive Health (NCH) has made significant investments in the future of health care in Southwest Florida.
We have invested in new facilities, advanced technology and exceptional physicians and caregivers. We have expanded access to specialty care, formed partnerships with leading health care organizations and prepared our health system to serve one of Florida’s fastest-growing regions.
Those investments are producing results.
More than 1.4 million patient visits each year are made to NCH through our hospitals, emergency departments, immediate care centers, outpatient locations and telemedicine services. Increasingly, patients choose NCH not simply because it is close to home, but because of the quality of care they receive.
Independent organizations recognize this quality as well, consistently ranking NCH among the top health systems in the country for clinical performance. NCH has earned national recognition for cardiac care, orthopedic surgery, pulmonary care, stroke care, spine care and cranial neurosurgery. Our Comprehensive Stroke Center has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval, and NCH’s mortality index – lives we save that the average hospital doesn’t – is among the best in the country.
We are proud of that progress. But that success has created a new challenge.
Like hospitals across the country, NCH is facing rising costs for labor, medications, and supplies. Government reimbursement often fails to cover the cost of providing care, while more families struggle with insurance coverage and health care affordability.
For nonprofit health systems like NCH, these realities carry significant consequences.
NCH is the largest provider of Medicaid services in our community and provides millions of dollars in charity care and other community benefits each year. We care for our neighbors regardless of their ability to pay because we believe health care should never depend on someone’s financial circumstances.
That commitment has defined NCH since residents came together to establish our community hospital 70 years ago. It remains unchanged today. Every person who walks through our doors receives access to world-class care. Not just those with excellent insurance or who can afford the bill. Everyone.
Keeping that promise, however, requires resources.
For generations, philanthropy has helped build the NCH our community knows today. Donors have supported new facilities, advanced technology, research and the recruitment of exceptional caregivers. Those investments have transformed health care throughout Southwest Florida.
As financial pressures on health care continue to grow, another form of philanthropy becomes increasingly important: unrestricted giving.
Unlike gifts designated for a specific project, unrestricted gifts allow NCH to direct resources where they are needed most. Sometimes that means investing in people or technology. Sometimes it means sustaining essential services. Sometimes it means helping provide extraordinary care to someone who simply cannot afford it.
There may never be a plaque recognizing that gift. But its impact can be life-changing.
Our community has invested in NCH because generations of Southwest Floridians believed exceptional health care should be available close to home. Together, we have built a health system recognized among the nation’s best.
Health care economics will continue to evolve. Costs will rise. Reimbursement models will change. Our commitment will not.
When someone comes through the doors of NCH, our responsibility is to provide the very best care possible. Unrestricted philanthropy allows our community to stand behind that promise. Because the true measure of a world-class health system is not simply its buildings, technology or awards.
It is whether exceptional care is there when someone needs it — regardless of who they are or what they can afford.
Join us in shaping the future of exceptional health care in Southwest Florida at www.NCHmd.org/1956.
Paul Hiltz is the CEO and president of NCH Health System.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Philanthropy has helped build the NCH community knows today | Opinion
Reporting by Paul Hiltz / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Paul Hiltz | USA TODAY Network
