It's a little scary. Our employees deserve annual increases in salaries. We have new technologies and new surgical procedures. But the costs are rising at a faster rate than the reimbursement. |
It's still an issue for us. For some specialties, going elsewhere in the country could mean a salary 30 to 40 percent higher and buying a house that costs one-third as much. |
It's the biggest single project hospitals have ever undertaken. |
The medical profession has proved to be a source of stable income for nurses. I think people are moving in that direction, where five years ago they would have gone to work for a dot-com company. |
We hope it will save money, but it is so costly to do this, with maintenance and upgrades, that it's not clear. We're doing it not so much because we believe it will be a return on investment, but because it's a return on quality and safety. |