Health Care

Steven R. Smoot is the Regional Vice President for Intermountain Health Care and administrator of the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Smoot first joined Intermountain in 2000 as administrator and CEO of Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City. He led the planning and construction of a new hospital in the city and also led a significant capital campaign to raise money for a cancer treatment center. Smoot became administrator of Utah Valley Regional in 2007, where he has helped advance services in the community and region. He’s also continued to build community relationships and manage operations in a difficult economic environment.

Summary of Steven Smoot's Presentation

• Medicare obligation costs are $38.7 Trillion which is over double our current national debt.
• Utah health care has better quality and lower cost that much of the world and the United States.
• Our next 10 years will require many changes: get healthier, use the healthcare system less and be realistic about what healthcare can do for us. 
• Utah is in an enviable position that we have a low bed to patient ration.
• Our expectation of what healthcare can do for us is over optimistic. 
• The next 10 years will be very difficult for the nation with all the healthcare changes but Provo is in a good position to weather the coming storm and to position itself very well for the next 50 years. 

Steven R. Smoot affirmed our greatest fears- healthcare costs are going up.  As a nation our medicare obligation will be more than double our current national debt.  Over the next 10 years we will face the need to live healthier while depending on a healthcare system less and becoming realistic about what healthcare can do for us.  As a nation we have built more and more beds in the attempt to heal everyone.   This practice has fed an expectation in us that is not sustainable, we are overbuilt.

As healthcare practices become more efficient and take less time and space through outpatient procedures our bed needs will diminish.  Utah and particularly Provo is in the enviable position of having a low bed per capita ratio already.  Provo will be able to weather the near term healthcare changes as we live healthy lifestyles , take care of our own health and get realistic about what healthcare can do for us now and in the future. 

View Steven Smoot's slides from his presentation on the future of health care.