Orange Coast Memorial CEO Marcia Manker Responds to Health Care Ruling

Editor's note: The following is a statement released Thursday from Marcia Manker, CEO of Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley.

As a result of today’s Supreme Court decision, many changes already underway in health care will continue to gain momentum.  MemorialCare Health System’s efforts to forge closer partnerships with physicians throughout the Southland, expand our continuum of care and better manage patients with chronic conditions, all position us well as health care reform continues. 

At Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, we are proud of our leadership role in leading reform in this region.  We are expanding ambulatory care and broadening our outpatient options to offer more services outside the hospital; strengthening and adding to our medical foundation physician organization which currently includes 2,000 affiliated physicians; and focusing on initiatives in continually improving community health and better managing chronic conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, pulmonary disease and orthopedic challenges, among others.  Our goal is to deliver the best value in health care on a consistent basis while improving quality and lowering costs. 

Today’s ruling also addresses the country’s “Triple Aim” of improving quality of care, reducing health care costs and improving the patient experience. Orange Coast Memorial and every hospital, program and service in the MemorialCare Health System have been at the forefront of innovative and cost-efficient health care delivery since our inception. 

As an example, for decades, teams of our physicians, nurses and other clinicians from all our hospitals meet regularly to create, refine and expand upon best-practice, evidence-based medicine and clinical guidelines that identify the best diagnostic, treatment and preventive techniques for every disease and condition a patient may face. Our physician-led teams focus on specific populations of patients or diseases and develop guidelines that support delivery of care at the bedside.

Our teams have and continue to offer scores of guidelines and best practices for managing patient care which have become the standards of practice at all our Southern California facilities. Spending many years identifying and implementing the most optimal clinical standards allows MemorialCare hospitals to achieve patient outcomes that surpass national and regional benchmarks. It can result in extraordinary quality, proven treatments and comprehensive care that continually raise medical standards and meet an important goal of health care reform.

We are poised to conquer the challenges in today’s health care environment while continuing to strengthen our hospital and solidify our future for the benefit of those who rely on us for their care.