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Foot-stomping mad that its base of patients is dwindling away, the state's smallest hospital is trying to stir up a Texas-sized, grass roots campaign so that it's no longer excluded from the managed care loop.
Because most insurers have left his 30-bed hospital out of their health care networks, Lodi Community Hospital president and chief executive Thomas L. Lockard said many of the ,500 residents of tiny Lodi in Medina County are blocked from using its services.
"It is like having a stone wall erected around the place with almost no entrance," he said. "In some ways, it was easier for the Mexicans to enter the Alamo than for our community to obtain services locally."
To reverse that situation, the hospital is asking villagers to barrage four large insurers with letters imploring the companies to enter managed care contracts with Lodi Community. The four targeted insurers are Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Medical Mutual of Ohio, CIGNA Healthcare of Ohio and Prudential Healthcare of Northern Ohio.
The Lodi hospital campaign began with an ad the hospital placed in the May 4 issue of the Trading Post, the hometown weekly shopper. The ad encouraged residents to petition the managed care companies to include the Lodi hospital in their networks.
The hospital has taken it upon itself to fax out letters supplied by area residents. By Wednesday, May 7, nearly 400 letters had been faxed to the insurance...