Summa’s Pledge to You For our patients… We will continue to provide our patients with high quality, coordinated and convenient care close to home. Our patients’ families and caregivers will be involved in each individual’s care plan and benefit from an integrated delivery system and the latest technologies. For our communities… We will improve the health status of our communities, reduce disparities and provide stable and predictable costs of our services. For our employees and physicians… Our employees and physicians will be valued and supported as leaders in advancing clinical care delivery and research. Summa Health System will provide easy, convenient access to information so our staff can continue to deliver world-class patient care. For employers… Summa Health System will partner with employers to meet their changing healthcare needs. Through stable, predictable healthcare costs and corporate health services, we will help businesses achieve a healthier, more productive workforce.

The signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) into law extends healthcare coverage to all Americans and introduces mechanisms to yeild higher quality and affordable healthcare to individuals.

This is only the beginning of change for the American healthcare system. Over time, we will learn more about how the new law will impact the nation as well as what it means to Summa Health System and the communities we serve.  We will keep you informed about this impact.

Overview of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

• Requires all individuals to have health insurance
• Allows 32 million more Americans to obtain health insurance coverage through subsidized private insurance policies or through Medicaid
• Expands Medicaid coverage
• Provides subsidies to low-income populations
• Establishes new insurance exchanges
• Bars insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions
• Allows parents to keep children on health insurance until age 26
• Closes the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole” over time
• Enables individuals to gain access to free preventative services through private plans
• Costs $940 billion over 10 years
• Reduces our deficit by $143 billion

Accountable and Transparent Healthcare

This new healthcare world is built on a foundation of accountability – for patients, caregivers, physicians, insurance companies, employers and our communities – as we work together to ensure that each of us receives the safest, evidence-based, highest value healthcare available in a timely, compassionate and cost-effective manner.

An integrated delivery system, Summa Health System has a long-standing history and commitment of being accountable for the health and well-being of our communities. Because our physicians, delivery system and health plan have worked together to create an innovative system centered on high quality, affordable patient care, we are ahead of the curve in providing the types of services that will be a part of this new era of accountable healthcare.

While there are still many unknowns about how American’s healthcare system will function in the future, Summa Health System’s commitment to the people we serve will not change.

Summa Health System will continue to analyze the new law and its impact on our patients, our employees and the community.  Throughout the course of the year, we will post relevant healthcare reform updates on our Web site.  If you have any questions regarding the new law, please contact our Government Relations Office at 330-375-6243.