Growth in health care pays off for communities in the region

“Really, in any community, the economic development in terms of young people staying in the community, in terms of jobs coming into the community, none of that happens unless the community is healthy,” Tillman said. “Hospitals are major drivers to the health of the community, so the better the services we offer at the hospital, the better the health of the community, the more economic activity and the better it is.”

He said United Hospital Center alone employs close to 2,000 people, all of whom receive competitive wages. This puts money back into the community.

“Some of those physicians are very high-paid employees, and all that contributes to the economy,” Tillman said.

WVU Medicine has been expanding as well. As the state’s largest employer, it has 14,000 people on staff, with 2,228 hired last year alone. It is continually filled to capacity, with many patients transferring from other hospitals to visit J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, said Albert Wright, the CEO of the facility.

“In 2014, we saw 6,000 transfers. In 2015, that grew to 7,000, and in 2016, that number was 9,000,” Wright said. “That new bed tower has been very helpful, but it’s filled right up.”

This is another way the economy benefits from health care. As patients travel into the area, people come in and spend money, boosting the local economy, officials note.

UHC sees patients from Harrison and surrounding counties, but the hospital also has seen individuals come from Ohio to see specialists.

“We treat about 50,0000 patients in emergency or private. We treat about 10,000 of what we call admissions, people who come to the hospital, stay overnight,” Tillman said. “And we probably treat close to half a million patients as outpatients, and many of those patients come multiple times.”

As UHC is able to expand and hire more specialists, more people will come into the community to see said specialists. In medicine, people want to go to specialists because they provide the right care, Tillman said. But in order to have an adequate number of specialists, the hospital must be a certain size.

“So as you get a little bigger, you can then recruit the next specialist,” Tillman said. “If you’re a small hospital in West Virginia, it’s really hard to have the scale to recruit the required specialists to take care of bone and spine problems, because you need a team of eight to 10 doctors and providers to have that.”

UHC continues to attract new patients, in part because the emphasis is on the patient.

“First, you have to do the right thing. Health care is an incredibly intimate business,” Tillman said. “Though we pay attention to the nickels and dimes, our real emphasis is that we pay attention to the patients.”

By having so many people traveling into the area, it can cause a trickle-down effect, said Kathy Wagner, the president of the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce.

“People buying locally, supporting local business, even visitors staying in the hotels, visiting patients in the hospital, that all helps the local economy,” Wagner said.

Even those who just come in to the hospital for a day contribute to the local economy.

“They have to eat. Supporting local food agencies, gas stations depending on the drive, and it exposes them to the local economy we have,” Wagner said. “Maybe they want to stop at the mall and local shops and make a day of it.”

It also keeps local money in the area, because residents don’t have to travel for their wellness needs.

“Not having to go out of town with a specialist, that’s a big asset to the community,” Wagner said. “It keeps people locally, and improves the overall health and wellness when you can be close to family and support systems.”

The executive director of West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Dr. John Deskins, said many people are surprised that health care is an economic topic. However, “I never give a speech without referencing it.

“If you want a business to locate here, first and foremost the business has to be confident it can find the workers it needs,” Deskins said. “If you don’t believe you can find the workers, you won’t locate somewhere. It’s a deal-breaker.”

While businesses want to have workers who have the right education and training, having healthy and drug-free workers is also important to companies.

“If your workers are lacking in education, unhealthy, have drug-abuse, that limits workers, and limits businesses that locate there. These two or three things are essential, promoting education and health,” Deskins said.

This can be difficult in West Virginia, which often ranks low in both of these.

“Virtually any healthy outcome measure, we’re near the bottom of the pile. We always rank between 45 and 50,” Deskins said. “In terms of drug abuse,we’re at the top — or bottom — of the pile, so it’s an impediment to economic development.”

While there are no magic solutions to this issue, Deskins believes that one way to improve economic development is by improving access to health care.

“It’s tough and there’s no easy solutions,” Deskins said. “It these a tax code, we can fix that, but a drug abuse crisis is harder.”

However, he hopes that as the state works to produce a cultural movement around health, the citizens of West Virginia will follow.

“Changing culture can be very hard to do,” Deskins said. “That’s something that doesn’t get fixed overnight.”

UHC is doing their part to try and help the cultural movement toward better health care, with the knowledge that it’ll also improve the economic developments.

“We funded about half of Healthy Harrison’s budget this year,” Tillman said. “They’re trying to get us to do the right thing, get us to eat the right foods, get us to get off the couch and improve physical activity. So we fund that also, in an effort to help the community.”