| Abstract: | In this moment of crisis, Catholic healthcare leaders must seek root causes and thorough solutions to the pressures of rising costs and the grave question of access to healthcare. The first question is whether the system can be fixed or if a more radical approach is needed. To reach a solution, government, business, hospitals, and physicians must sit down at a common table to debate the issue. In 1981 the bishops outlined a series of values or principles that should characterize the U.S. healthcare system, including treating the whole person and providing access for all. These values have characterized Catholic healthcare facilities in the past decades and should not be lost in the present crisis and in the decisions being made for the future. Today, Catholic healthcare leaders have a broadened understanding of Catholic identity and the need to continually probe what that means. They realize Catholic identity is more than a few moral codes; it is a broader concern about the way in which healing takes place. Another gain is the development of lay vocations, but these are often restricted and should be more fully developed. In conjunction with this concept, we need to see hospitals as belonging to the whole Church in terms of its mission and thus the responsibility of the entire body of believers. Finally, a new image is needed concerning how care is provided. We need to bring prevention and care closer together, preventing duplication of major services and making certain basic services available to all. |
