For those of us who live in Western Virginia (think Winchester down to Abingdon – think I-81 – think Mountains, not oceans), we have long known that our region has very unique health care needs and challenges.
Some small counties have few if any health care providers.
Some of our counties and cities have such high rate of unemployment, that fewer and fewer men and women have health insurance and access to health care.
Some cities, like Roanoke, see health care as the largest local industry.
But is the overall health care better?
Are we seeing less incidents of Malpractice?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. We only see snap shots in our office. Terrible cases where patients have been neglected, and have suffered injury. Cases where health care providers were rushed for time and couldn’t provide the level of care needed.
Cases where a few more minutes could have prevented long term suffering.