Via ANTELOPE VALLEY PRESS:
LANCASTER — The Antelope Valley Economic Development & Growth Enterprise, or AV EDGE, Spring Business Summit last Thursday included a health care panel where panelists discussed health care in the Antelope Valley and the need to work together to better serve the community.
AV EDGE Health Care Committee Chair Benjamin Gocke, director of Business Development for Southwest Healthcare Palmdale Regional Medical Center, moderated the panel.
The panelists were Palmdale Regional Medical Center CEO Nana Deeb and Dr. Manish Desai board certified endocrinologist and assistant area medical director for Kaiser Permanente.
“I think we’re all following along with the budget cut proposals that are happening in DC,” Gocke said. “For California we know that that means Medicaid and Medicare are definitely going to be downgraded or cut.”
In California, 15 million people are covered by Medi-Cal, with 30% under the age of 20, he added.
“So they’re a very vulnerable population,” he said. “Health care providers, it’s inevitable we’ll be affected.”
He added that the AV EDGE health care community is monitoring six state assembly bills to hold the insurance companies accountable for timely and accessible care.
Gocke noted that on March 21, thousands of medical students across the country found out where they would be training for their medical residency programs for the next three to seven years.
“For California, this is a huge opportunity,” he said.
By 2030, the state will be 4,100 physicians short for primary care physicians in the area.
“This really affects low income and health care needs,” Desai said, with the Antelope Valley having the second-highest rate of diabetes in Los Angles County.
Gocke asked what health care providers can do to meet those disparities.
The Antelope Valley also has a large commuter population, with about 70,000 people on the road by some estimates.
“We have a very young population that commutes, and when you’re spending two hours on the road, traveling to LA, coming back, that puts a huge amount of stress on the system because now these people are not available to see us during work hours,” Desai said.
Kaiser Permanente has set up a virtual platform to reach patients. They have also partnered with YMCA and local schools for health screenings.
“Just awareness, I think, plays a huge role in making sure our community is aware of certain health conditions and to get help sooner rather than when things go wrong,” he said.
Desai added there is a huge disease burden in the Antelope Valley.
“About 14% of our patients are diabetic, which is one of the second highest,” he said. “The highest is East LA, but if you look at the trends we’re growing very quickly.”
Another challenge for the Antelope Valley is how spread out the region is.
For example, Desai said in their own research for Kaiser Permanente patients, the farther they live from the buildings, the higher their disease burden is.
Gocke asked Deeb how the health care community in the Antelope Valley is helping get access to health care for patients.
“We do know that the hospitals have their role and the health systems like Kaiser and High Desert, others, have their role,” she said.
She added that Antelope Valley Medical Center “has done a tremendous job in being the higher community hospital.”
“They have a lot more beds and they’ve done a tremendous job in expanding their emergency room,” Desai said.
She added that AV Medical Center is the second-busiest emergency room in the county.
“We’re on the Top 10 as well,” she said.
What that says is the Antelope Valley lacks primary care, Desai said.
“When they use us as primary care then we’re lacking primary care in the community,” she said.
She added that AV Medical Center has done a good job expanding its acuity with care for stroke patients, for example, who can remain here instead of going to larger hospitals. Kaiser Permanente expanded to more infusion centers and is building its imaging and surgery centers to provide better access to patients.
High Desert has also done a good job by expanding its operation to keep people out of hospitals, Desai said.
At Palmdale Regional, Deeb said they decided to build a residency program.
“As of next year, Palmdale Regional will have 44 family practice and internal medicine fellows in our Valley,” she said.
She added, “I’m saying that with caution because this community has to start working together as a health care community.”
She added there must be more community synergy.
“These 44 residents should be able to stay in this area but they’re not going to be able to stay in this area for long given the incentives to stay in this area,” she said. “But they’re not going to stay in this area for long given the incentives to stay in this area. We have eight graduating next year. We only secured four of them at Palmdale Regional.”
She added they must “send residents out to places such as Pasadena and Merced for OB (obstetrics) because we are not working together as an entity,” she said. “I hope, for those of you who are listening, that we start working together.”
Palmdale Regional works with local nonprofit organizations to serve veterans.
“They help us support these wonderful veterans,” she said. “This is what we have to do as a community in order to move forward.”
She added they need to find a way to fund primary care.
“Kaiser does a phenomenal job, they have cradle to grave services,” she said. “The rest of the health care entities do not. We need to build an infrastructure, like he said, that we keep them from coming to the hospitals. Giving them healthier living in their own homes.”
She added they need to support AV Medical Center’s goal of building a new hospital.
“You can’t live on just Palmdale; you do need Antelope Valley,” she said. “And Antelope Valley Hospital will not pass 2030 regulations on seismic expectations that all hospitals have to.”
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