You all probably know the story.
“Well-to-do Hastings family loses their daughter to illness. The parents travel the world to find out what the best hospitals are like and then come back to Hastings and open a hospital.”
Why did they do it? To make more money? Nope, not at all.
Mary Lanning Healthcare, then Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital, was founded by local people who had no interest in making money off the community. They were interested in providing services locally with local control so that no one else would die due to a lack of healthcare.
Because Mary Lanning has grown quite a bit in the past 105 years, it is sometimes easy to forget the ideals on which the organization was founded. Many people in the region don’t even realize that MLH is a non-profit business.
So what does that mean? It means there is no group of people getting rich off the backs of those who need healthcare. A large percentage of what MLH makes is put right back into providing better and better services to the community, and in employing your friends and neighbors to look after you.
Still skeptical because of the big bill your dad got last year from MLH? Hear things in the community like, “Mary Lanning is just so expensive?”
The truth of the matter is Mary Lanning is always comparing its charges to others in the state. The Nebraska Hospital Association provides information to its members about which hospitals are charging the highest and lowest for certain procedures. If the MLH business department receives several complaints about a high cost, representatives can call up figures from the rest of the state and compare. If the cost does seem to be on the high end, there are times when an adjustment is made.
Therefore, MLH is always striving to be competitive in the matter of pricing. And the MLH web site contains estimated costs for several procedures and a “cost estimator” for people who want to investigate prices.
At times, MLH prices may be higher in some areas because the hospital has purchased newer, more up-to-date equipment. For example, a 3D mammogram in Hastings may be slightly higher because we have better equipment than other places. In the case of imaging, MLH officials wanted to provide cost-saving options for customers, so they purchased an imaging center in Grand Island that has older equipment. If a patient doesn’t need the new high-tech equipment and cannot afford the costs in Hastings, he or she can be referred to Grand Island for imaging.
While MLH tries to provide competitive pricing, we do understand that healthcare in general is high. That’s why, in 2016, MLH provided $40 million in charity care. That’s a lot of help for the community to those who fall within the federal poverty guidelines.
Well, that doesn’t help me, you say.
At MLH, we have a department working on payment issues every day. In fact, MLH doesn’t turn over anyone to a payment services agency unless every means of working with the person has been exhausted. And most cases are totally handled internally. If you are having trouble paying your bill, you just need to talk to us, reasonably and rationally. We will help to the best of our ability, and we are always working to make our system more user-friendly.
And, we are always striving to make our payment system easier and friendlier to navigate. After all, we are a local entity, controlled by local folks – in other words, we are your friends and neighbors who understand what it is like to live in this region. We understand the challenges and advantages of south central Nebraska. Finally, we are here to help you navigate the crazy world of healthcare in the best way possible.