Tracie Stratton, CEO of Los Alamos Medical Center, speaks at Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos. Courtesy photo

KIWANIS News:

Jan. 20, Kiwanian Tracie Stratton, CEO of the Los Alamos Medical Center (LAMC), gave an update to the club on the current concerns and issues facing the facility and the actions that are being taken to address them. She has been working with recommendations from Think New Mexico to focus on helping promote solutions, both locally and at the state level.

One of the most critical problems, said Stratton, both for LAMC and hospitals across the state, is the very high rates and low availability of malpractice insurance. New Mexico has the highest rates in the nation and appears to be gaining lawyers while losing doctors. Some of the paths forward could involve caps on all claims and attorney fees, a cap on punitive damages, and permitting only one claim per event.

The state does not have sufficient health care staff, including doctors and nurses. One way to mitigate this problem is passing a bill to provide a process that allows contact licenses so that doctors and nurses in surrounding states can practice in New Mexico without having to license separately in each state. Other ideas include increasing the faculty salaries for medical teaching facilities and making it easier, through the visa process, for international medical students to study here.

Stratton explained that LAMC has the lowest nurse to patient ratio in the state and is putting in the effort required to maintain access to specialists and to recruit new doctors to the facility.