Bundles of joy bundles of profit for hospitals

Kelly and Julian Perry are getting ready to welcome a new baby into their family in December. When the time comes, the Mesa couple will head to Banner Desert Medical Center, as directed by her obstetrician/ gynecologist, for the baby’s delivery.

Their last baby also was born there.

“The only place my doctor has privileges to do births is at Banner Desert, so you kind of have to go where it is,” Kelly Perry said. “It worked out last time, Banner Desert was good.”

Whether the choice is made by either the OB/GYN or the expectant mother, hospitals compete for childbirths every day, and consider deliveries a highly coveted medical procedure.

“Hospitals always ... have certain things that they don’t get paid for and they have to make up for them in other ways, and (births) may be one way to do that,” said Dr. Mary Rimsza, a research professor in the School of Health Management and Policy in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “They pretty much know how to manage the possible complications easily and most of them are going to come out fine. Also, they’re not dealing with a high-risk population in terms of both age and chronic medical conditions.”

Last year, there were nearly 96,500 births in Arizona, up from more than 86,000 in 2000, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Of those last year, 26,938 were born in East Valley hospitals.

“I know that the East Valley is one of the areas in the state that has the largest number of births,” she said. “You have a very young population and that makes up for a lot of births in that area.”

BIRTHS WANTED

Childbirth is rarely a money-losing service, said Bradford Kirkman-Liff, professor of health policy and biotechnology in the School of Health Management and Policy.

“There are very few women who don’t have health insurance for childbirth,” he said.

“The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System covers over half of all childbirths in the state. Women who don’t have health insurance, if they go to the hospital emergency department when they’re in labor, they will usually be determined to be eligible for coverage under AHCCCS after they give birth.”

Even if an expectant mother isn’t covered by AHCCCS, she likely will be covered by the state’s Medicaid program under the Emergency Services Provision because delivering a baby is considered an emergency, Rimsza said.

Another reason hospitals want births is because the “woman in the family tends to make the decisions concerning health care,” and she is likely to remain loyal to a hospital where she gave birth, Rimsza said.

“It’s a way to attract families to the hospital, it’s a way to build a relationship with the family and the community, and so it’s a way to build a good rapport with the community,” Kirkman-Liff said.

“Having delivery services is seen as being a very important community outreach and marketing activity.”

A “good birth experience” can lead families to rely on a particular hospital for future health care needs, said Polly Hrenchir, Scottsdale Healthcare’s birthing services manager.

“From there it goes into maybe your children have to come back or your husband needs surgery, or something like that,” she said. “We put our efforts into the birthing experience so that they will come back and will repeat coming back.”

BONDING AND PAMPERING

Scottsdale Healthcare handles about 6,000 deliveries every year at its two hospitals — Scottsdale Healthcare Shea and Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn.

Through its Moms on the Move program, Scottsdale Healthcare receives feedback from former maternity patients on what they did and didn’t like, and ways in which the birthing process can be improved, Hrenchir said.

“We strive to do family-centered care, and that’s incorporating the whole family, through the sibling classes, the daddy bootcamp that we have, and certainly the prenatal classes for mom,” she said.

“Of course the newness of Scottsdale Healthcare . . . we have a beautiful unit and beautiful rooms, so that all helps bring patients here.”

Other selling points include a spa service with massages for new moms and their babies, and room service where moms choose what and when they want to eat, Hrenchir said.

“We do find patients coming from Glendale, Gilbert and Payson,” she said. “We always say isn’t it interesting that they’ll come this far. It makes us proud that they’re willing to come this far, and pass three hospitals to get here.”

Over in Gilbert, Mercy Gilbert Medical Center opened last week and already has had numerous deliveries in its Family Birthing Center.

“We want the maternity business because it’s really the gateway to the hospital,” said Terri Mahl, Mercy Gilbert’s director of maternal child health. “We have a very beautiful facility, and the rooms are large and very homey.”

The rooms are selfcontained, with everything needed for the baby and for delivery, as well as a fold-out couch for the spouse, a family member or friend, she said.

The birthing center was designed to accommodate families, and encourage more bonding time between the new mother and her baby, Mahl said.

MORE NEEDED

More hospitals will be opening in the East Valley over the next few years, including two within a mile of each other in east Mesa. These hospitals will include birthing units, but aren’t likely to reduce the number of births at any existing hospital, Kirkman-Liff said.

“Metropolitan Phoenix has fewer patient beds per 100,000 people than any other metropolitan area in the United States,” he said.

“We have a serious capacity shortage here and we are playing catch-up to where we need to be. So these new facilities that are being built are very much necessary.’’

This spring, Scottsdale Healthcare began construction on its third hospital, Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak.

It will be the first new hospital built north of Loop 101. When the hospital opens, it won’t have a birthing unit, but it’s not likely to stay that way for long, Hrenchir said. “It’s going to be a 60-bed, more surgical medical hospital,” he said. “No OB is going there right now, but I would venture to say . . . because the growth out there is unbelievable and young families moving out there, I know eventually they’re going to need some obstetrical services out there.”