CHARLESTON – Three health care leaders pondered the challenges facing health care during a Friday session of the West Virginia Press Association Legislative Lookahead. The 2024 session begins on Wednesday.
Their first question was how to make health care more accessible in our rural, relatively low-income state.
Jim Nemitz, president of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, said there need to be incentives for physicians to stay here. He spoke to one who said he could make more money, with no income tax, in Florida but he stays here for his family and because he works to serve.
This means the Legislature needs to prioritize higher education funding, he said.
Elizabeth Pellegrin, Vandalia Health vice president and chief marketing officer, said hospitals rely heavily on Medicare and Medicaid funding, so it’s important to improve their financial stability.
Stephen Pachuta, WVU School of Dentistry dean, talked about measures the school is taking to enhance its recruiting and its mission, such as developing a pediatric residency program, embracing digital dentistry and technology, and undertaking a $35 million clinic renovation and modernization initiative.
Nemitz talked about the need to invest in technology not just for undergraduates and medical students, but for residency programs. A student who completes their medical training and their residency in state is more likely to stay and practice here. A lot of students leave the state for lack of residency posts. “If you want to grow physicians, grow residencies.”
Because West Virginia is largely rural, the three talked about rural health care. Nemitz said WVSOM’s mission is rural health care, and their statewide campus infrastructure is built on that. “This model, I feel, is a very effective model.”
Students are trained in rural areas, exposed to rural practitioners. “It’s a very powerful system of education. … You have to inspire them.”
For Vandalia, Pellegrin said, collaboration is the key – working across health systems and schools.
Pachuta commented, “We have counties in this state that don’t have a dentist.” How do we get them to those places? The cost of education and student loan debt is a barrier.
They graduate with $280,000 to $300,000 in debt and have to go somewhere where they can live and repay that debt, he said. Something like loan forgiveness for staying in state and serving underserved populations would help.
The opioid crisis has added to the challenges, they said. Pellegrin said the crisis has made it difficult to hire drug-free workers. Overall, it’s a more difficult environment: care is harder, recruiting and retention are both also more difficult.
The three also fielded a question on the affects so far of the 2022 update to state abortion law following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision putting such laws into the hands of the states.
Nemitz said they haven’t seen the full impact yet, but it’s put a chill on things. A medical license is a physician’s most precious possession and West Virginia’s law can affect decision-making.
Pellegrin said it also may affect recruiting students into the ob-gyn field, which already suffers shortages. Students want training in the full spectrum of care in their field and may think they won’t be able to get it here.
Email: dbeard@dominionpost.com
