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In this month’s
issue of St. Louis Commerce Magazine we continue with our tradition
of taking an in-depth look at a key segment of our region’s
economy. This month the focus is on healthcare. From a quality-of-life
standpoint our region enjoys some of the best-rated healthcare
institutions in the nation, if not the world. But often overlooked
is the extraordinary economic role healthcare plays in the
St. Louis region.
Bryan Bezold, RCGA chief economist, notes that the healthcare
segment of our economy is growing. The healthcare industry throughout
St. Louis is twice what the national average would predict for
a region our size. From 1995 to 2004, healthcare employment across
the region grew 14.3 percent, outpacing the overall regional employment
growth of 6.5 percent.
Bezold also notes that approximately 59,300 people work in the
region’s hospitals. Those jobs support another 54,400 jobs,
bringing the total regional impact to over 113,000 jobs. Therefore,
the direct and indirect economic activity associated with hospitals
across the region is $10.9 billion.
To provide added context, we introduce you to some of our region’s
key healthcare leaders and institutions in this month’s issue.
To find out what’s on the mind of some of our area’s
healthcare leaders, James Nicholson chronicles a wide-ranging
roundtable discussion. To show how the healthcare sector is adding
capacity, Linda F. Jarrett writes about Saint Louis University’s
$64 million Health Sciences Center under construction. And this
development is just one of many currently underway across the
St. Louis region.
Just like any other segment of the economy, healthcare has its
own set of challenges. Susan Caba covers what’s being done
to address the shortage of healthcare professionals. Brian R.
Hook writes about the efforts to address rising healthcare costs.
One avenue for addressing escalating costs is preventative medicine
and wellness in general. Unquestionably, smoking is an overriding
factor that adversely impacts healthcare conditions and drives
healthcare
costs higher. Therefore, this month we also examine a proposal
to raise the state’s tobacco tax because studies show a direct
correlation exists between smoking rates and the level of tax
on cigarettes. A coalition is proposing the higher tax as part
of an initiative to prevent smoking across the state, particularly
among young Missourians.
And finally, our spotlight is on one of the newer members of our
region’s healthcare leadership. Denny DeNaravaez is the new
CEO at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center. She arrived in town
after holding top healthcare jobs in Miami and Minneapolis. Christine
Imbs writes about what led DeNaravaez from accounting to healthcare.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue of St. Louis Commerce Magazine.
As always, please share your comments and suggestions with us
at dfleming@stlrcga.org.
RICHARD C.D. FLEMING
President and Chief Executive Officer
St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association
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