2/11/2012
By MICHAEL STRAND
Given such trends as declining reimbursements from the government, an aging population and the popularity of high-deductible health insurance, what does the future of health care look like?
"Soylent Green," says Micheal Terry, CEO of Salina Regional Health Center, after a short pause to ponder.
"I was thinking ‘Logan’s Run,’ " says Joe Tallon, the hospital’s vice president of finance.
The two 1970s science fiction films seem wildly different, but share a backdrop. In ‘Soylent Green,’ the elderly are encouraged to report to government-run euthanasia centers; in ‘Logan’s Run,’ people are required to report to what they’ve been told is a kind of reincarnation center on their 30th birthday - where they are killed.
In the nearer term, Terry and Tallon see a landscape of health care rationing and shuttered hospitals.
They also envision the convergence of numerous seemingly disparate trends, ranging from a growing entitlement mentality, trends in lower government reimbursements, and a heavier and fatter population - all working to make health care an increasingly difficult business.


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