On Wednesday, September 6 at 6pm, the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign invites the public to the Silco Theatre for a special Silver City screening of the informative new documentary American Hospitals: Healing a Broken System. The film will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Grant County Commissioner Alicia Edwards, and featuring longtime local physician and Gila Regional Medical Center trustee Dr. Fred Fox along with the Health Security Campaign’s Executive Director and expert in New Mexico health care policy, Mary Feldblum.
The screening is free, but donations will be appreciated. Concessions will be available for purchase.
This film takes a deep look under the hood of hospital business models, exploring what’s driving health care’s astronomical pricing, consolidation, and inequities — and exploring potential solutions to improve hospitals for patients, providers, and payers. Produced by FixIt! Films, American Hospitals features voices of health care professionals, patients, researchers, and government officials.
In the documentary, Dr. Susan Rogers of the Physicians for a National Health Program says, “The business model is not based on providing care. It is based on making money.”
And yet, more than 600 rural hospitals – nearly 30% of all rural hospitals are in danger of closing in the near future. More than 200 hospitals are at risk of immediate closure. Not long ago, Gila Regional Medical Center was on that short list of critically endangered hospitals. It has now moved onto the list of 600 hospital broadly at risk. Why is it so hard to maintain rural hospitals?
This documentary is not an exposé about executives that are up to shenanigans, or intentional overcharging – though these things certainly happen. It is a film about a system that is so focused on increasing profits, it impacts every facet of patient care – to the point of eroding the very mission of care itself.
Come see the film and join the discussion on September 6 from 6-8pm at the Silco. A second screening will be held in the Las Cruces area on September 10, at 6pm at the Fountain Theater in Mesilla.
View the trailer at https://fixithealthcare.com/watch/ .
Silver City Panel members:
Mary Feldblum has a Ph.D. in Sociology with a minor in Economics. She has almost three decades of experience working on health-related issues in New Mexico, including patient protection, hospital and health plan sales and conversions, and different approaches to providing health care coverage while controlling costs.
She is the Executive Director of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign – a broad coalition of over 170 organizations that support a comprehensive statewide health plan that guarantees affordable health care for all New Mexicans. It is the sponsor of this free film screening.
Alicia Edwards is a Grant County Commissioner, and in that role also was a member of the governing board of the Gila Regional Medical Center. She is also the Coordinator for Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Grant County (HKHC) and has served on the Grant County Community Health Council.
Fred Fox M.D. is a Family Physician who practiced in Silver City for many years and also worked in the emergency room at Gila Regional Medical Center where he was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees. A long-term resident of Grant County, he previously served on the Board of El Refugio and was Medical Director of a clinic in Morenci, Arizona. Partly retired, he still serves as the Medical Director of the Greenlee County (AZ) Public Health Department.
Gail Stamler is a Certified Nurse Midwife with 43 years of experience as a women’s healthcare provider. She spent the last 15 years of her career at Cassie Women’s Health Center in Silver City, retiring in 2022.