Strategic Plan to Address Growth in Southern Nevada

HEALTH CARE

Southern Nevada faces serious health care challenges due to unprecedented population growth and demographic factors common to regions in the Western United States. While Nevada ranks low in the number of physicians per resident, we cannot attribute all the rankings to the quality of health care available in our community. We have some of the finest and most modern facilities and a cadre of well-trained and talented providers. University Medical Center has been recognized as one of the top 100 teaching hospitals. Experts attribute low rankings to poor lifestyle choices by Nevadans, such as: the prevalence of smoking, use of alcohol, and drug abuse. Also, access to health care is an overall concern. It is estimated that over 20% of Southern Nevadans are not covered by health insurance. All of this helps create a system where preventative health care is minimal and where the use of emergency rooms—often at public expense—becomes the primary health care option. Certainly, our unprecedented growth rate adds to our challenge of providing access to health related services.

As a state, Nevada has always lagged behind the rest of the country in the number of physicians per 100,000 population due to our rapid growth. In 1997, Nevada had 159 physicians per 100,000 people, compared with 268 nationally. Also, we ranked 44th out of 50 for hospital beds per 100,000 population in 1996. The national average of 325 beds is just over 100 more beds per 100,000 than in Nevada. Hospitals and other health care facilities will need as many as 3,000 new nurses over the next several years, but local nursing schools can turn out fewer than 200 a year. This shortage is already indicated by the shortfall of nursing staff to support the medical industry. National health care statistics show Nevada ranks 50th among the states in the ratio of dentists serving residents. There are 35 dentists per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of about 60 per 100,000.

Seniors are the fastest growing segment of our population as a result of both the aging process of existing residents and new residents moving to Southern Nevada. Today, nearly one in every five Southern
Nevadans is age 55 or older. Health care facilities and resources have not kept pace with the growth of this group. Nursing home and other long-term care beds are much in demand. Only 210 beds are available in Southern Nevada to care for Alzheimer’s patients. As today’s baby boomers come to require such care, the number of beds will quickly decrease.

There are three main venues for improving health care in Southern Nevada: state government and local government, and the private sector. Governor Miller has appointed a Health Care System Review Committee to review and recommend changes to Nevada’s health care systems and policies. The recommendations from this committee need to be tracked and supported by local governments, future legislators and health care administrators to improve Nevada’s health care report card. Also, United Way’s Health Board Team has created a ‘Wellness Council” which includes health care professionals, public health officials and major employers and unions.

This “Wellness Council” plans to develop educational programs to encourage Nevadans to lead healthy lifestyles. Finally, the private and voluntary sectors can play a major role in providing information, education and access to health care services. The use of volunteers can help improve health care support and education. The use of ServiceLinkTM, the on-line directory of services database, can be of significant value to both providers and supporters for sharing current information on the availability of health care resources and for promoting wellness and prevention.

In general, the quality of health care in Southern Nevada is in need of improvement. Therefore, the health care goal is simply stated but serious and complex in nature:

Goal 1: Promote and improve quality health care for all Southern Nevadans.

OBJECTIVES	STRATEGIES
A. Improve access to appropriate and affordable health care for all Southern Nevadans	1. Develop programs to increase coverage and medical services for the uninsured and underinsured with diversified funding sources. 2. Maximize available federal resources. 3. Develop programs to increase public/private participation in providing health care services. 4. Expand the variety of service hours and locations of health care facilities. 5. Establish a dental college at UNLV. 6. Review licensing requirements and processes for dentists. 7. Increase the number of providers graduating from Nevada health care education programs, with efforts to attract multi-lingual students. 8. Support the proposed County Organized Health System to coordinate publicly assisted medical programs. 9. Expand hospital bed capacity.
B. Increase quality of care provided by Southern Nevada’s health care delivery system.	1. Establish state mandated performance standards for health plans, hospitals, long-term care facilities and other institutional providers. 2. Enhance the quality of Nevada’s professional education programs, particularly the medical school at UNR and UNLV. 3. Support recruitment of high quality physicians, dentists, nurses and other providers.
C. Enhance coordination between local, state, and federal agencies and the private sector that a) provide health care coverage, or b) monitor public health.	1. Develop a data and management information system necessary for administering Medicaid and monitoring performance standards 2. Invest in hardware, software and technical expertise needed to administer Medicaid and measure health care quality. 3. Coordinate all the current studies on health care and develop an integrated long-term action plan to address health care needs in Southern Nevada. 4. Endorse Governor Miller’s Health Care System Review Committee recommendations. (*Note: Final Report Pending)
D. Promote prevention and wellness programs.	1. Increase community involvement in United Way’s “Wellness Council” which currently includes health care professionals, public health officials, major employers and unions. 2. Establish a system of volunteer-staffed health-related services, including hospice programs, HIV education, prenatal mentoring programs, CPR/first aid training, health screenings and other preventative services. 3. Increase the use of ServiceLinkTM for sharing current information on the availability of health care resources and for promoting wellness and prevention. 4. Support projects to identify and reduce work related injuries and illnesses.
E. Increase the role of our educational system to reduce demands on our health care system.	1. Increase the number of graduates from local colleges and universities to fulfill the demand of health care positions in Southern Nevada. 2. Educate youths to reduce the number of teen pregnancies.
F. Retain UMC’s status as one of the nation’s top teaching hospitals.	1. Increase ties between academic and health care institutions to foster research and attract nationally recognized experts. 2. Promote UMC as a regional, state-of-the art, full-service health care facility.