Fulfilling the Promise
The Campaign for Cape Cod Healthcare
Thousands of committed, caring Cape Codders believe that excellent
At Cape Cod Healthcare, our promise to you is to provide the
highest quality, accessible health care for residents and visitors
alike. We’ve made great strides in making this promise a reality.
Coordination and collaboration among the physicians and health
care providers on Cape Cod have brought new programs and new
levels of health services to our region. We’ve seen major progress
in offering patient-centered technological advancements such as
minimally invasive surgical procedures. We’ve also reached important
milestones in creating oncology and cardiology centers of excellence,
building on our affiliations with Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare
in oncology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in cardiac surgery.
And we’ve had great success recruiting top-notch health care
professionals in all specialties.
It is equally important that we have the facilities and equipment
necessary to continue recruiting the best and brightest physicians.
Professionals must know they are coming into a sophisticated
health care environment with first-rate technology, giving them
the tools they need for quick and accurate diagnoses and treatment.
Yet, the Cape’s health care system is operating at close to capacity
and facing a population growth of more than 12% by 2010.
We’re serving a population that is significantly older than average,
with more than 23% over age 65 – almost double the state’s
average – a population that is seven times more likely than any
other age group to require hospitalization.
Compounding this challenge, insurance and government reimbursement
levels continue to fall far short of the actual cost of providing
services. Despite the uphill climb, we have successfully reached
out across the Cape, working daily to provide accessible, comprehensive
primary, specialty, emergency and at-home services. Our
goal is to continue to do so.
The need for expansion and continuous improvement of facilities
and services is clear. In June 2005, we are hoping to announce
publicly the details of a major fundraising initiative, Fulfilling the
Promise, to help prepare Cape Cod Hospital, Falmouth Hospital
and the Visiting Nurse Association of Cape Cod for meeting future
needs. With a campaign goal exceeding $100 million, we plan to
develop Cape Cod Healthcare’s programs and facilities to meet the
Cape’s health needs over the next decade. By doing so, we will
fulfill our promise of quality health care for all by addressing the
challenging issues of access, technology, and future planning.
Fulfilling the promise means accessibility.
In health care, delaying treatment can often mean delaying recovery.
The best physicians and facilities are meaningless if they’re not
available when you need them.
Currently, Cape Cod has a low bed-per-resident ratio – 1.3 beds
per 1,000 of population as compared to 2.6 statewide and 2.9
nationally. We must prepare for greater demand in both inpatient
and outpatient services. To address this demand, we envision
adding capacity through additional hospital rooms and facilities.
Our goal is to develop a hospital system with more private rooms,
upgrading facilities and bringing patient rooms in line with
Computer rendering of the Mugar Bed addition at
Cape Cod Hospital from Bayview Street 21st century technology. However, with medical insurers pressuring
hospitals to discharge inpatients as quickly as possible, it is
also necessary to address the need for skilled nursing and rehabilitative
care on Cape Cod.
The Visiting Nurse Association of Cape Cod is the answer. The VNA
clinicians, home-health aides, and therapists provide close to
2,000 home care visits every day. While some of these visits are to
patients discharged from the hospitals, the VNA visits home care
patients of all ages recovering from major surgery, living with a
chronic illness, or needing additional assistance like well-baby
visits, wound care or pain management.
The challenge of home care lies with eligibility guidelines. For home
health care reimbursement, these guidelines remain increasingly
strict, often resulting in insurance coverage ending long before the
patient’s full recovery. To ensure that the VNA can always carry out
its essential work, six Special Purpose Funds have been created, as
well as an overarching Endowment Fund. We envision these VNA
endowment reserves will yield an ever-growing income stream to
underwrite the cost of VNA care in the future. The special purpose
funds will ensure that the needs of the community are met,
despite the restrictions of reimbursements.
Beds and home care are not the only needs at this time. More than
60% of Cape surgeries are performed on an outpatient basis, and
diagnostic procedures have grown by 38% over the past four years.
To address these growing trends, we envision creating additionaloutpatient facilities through a new ambulatory surgery center and
diagnostic imaging center; and reducing waiting times through
improved access to diagnostic tools such as MRIs, CT Scanners,
endoscopy and ultrasounds.
In addition, we plan to increase capacity in our emergency centers
to alleviate wait times and reduce the need to divert patients to
other hospitals.
Fulfilling the promise means investing in technology.
It is crucial to be aggressive in investing in appropriate technology
for patient care. One high-profile example is cardiovascular disease,
this country’s number one killer. In 2000 alone, 487 Cape residents
had to travel off-Cape for cardiac surgery. No longer. In its first
two years of operation, our Open Heart Surgery Program treated
over 350 cardiac patients. With an aging and growing population,
we expect the demand for cardiac services that can be delivered
close to home to increase dramatically. As a result, we envision
new robotic equipment, additional surgical rooms and careful
integration of cardiac services including bypass surgery, valve
replacement and repair, as well as expansion of elective and
emergency angioplasty.
Our comprehensive technology forecast includes additional CAT
Scans, more capacity for nuclear medicine and space for viewing
digital film instantly, now standard at hospitals nationwide. To
address the increasing need for post-surgical care, we envision
expanding rehabilitation services and facilities to accommodate
new, state of the art equipment.
Fulfilling the promise means planning for the future.
As you can see, we have much to do to continue meeting the
health care needs of the Cape’s residents and visitors. The
support of our many donors and partners is critical in helping
us meet our many challenges. Quite simply, we cannot meet our
goals without the continued support and help of our generous
donors and community partners.
Cape Cod Healthcare has become the region’s health care provider
of choice by maintaining the highest standards. As a leader, our
role is to help identify and respond to the needs of our community.
Through a committed philanthropic effort, we will continue to
provide and expand essential health care services for a growing
Cape Cod. We welcome you to join us on this journey.