For more than a decade Nueterra Healthcare has worked with physicians and health systems to expand health care options in their own communities. Together we have succeeded in forging new partnerships to develop surgery centers and hospitals where physicians take personal stakes in the health of their patients.

While our government has now banned the growth of physician ownership of hospitals, Nueterra is undaunted.

When they started the company, the founders of Nueterra believed in health care reform by putting more power in the hands of physicians to lower costs and improve outcomes. The government’s newly enacted restrictions on physician ownership haven’t changed our company’s purpose. We believe change creates opportunity, and Nueterra’s focus since its inception has been on creating new opportunities for physicians and health systems.

Our goal is to continue to keep our facilities vibrant by bringing in new physicians and developing innovative ways for physicians to share in the success of the effective delivery of quality health care services.

In the next few years, more than 30 million additional people will obtain insurance and become fully functional medical consumers. The models of physician ownership that we have created will be able to take advantage of new opportunities in the medical marketplace. Physician-owned hospitals and surgery centers are the “value-based healthcare” that the reform plan wants to achieve.

Nueterra is also exploring several innovative ownership models that will still allow physicians to be in control.

There is nothing to fear. Nueterra is going to continue to develop hospitals where doctors hold key management positions – where they will be able to govern and reap economic reward while providing quality care to their patients.

Are you ready for what appears to be the final round of the health care reform debate? We’re getting it this week as Congress once again is headed toward votes on massive bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

In the more than two months that have passed since the Senate’s Christmas Eve vote, a lot has changed. Most striking, the Democrats have lost their 60-vote majority in the Senate with the election of Republican Scott Brown  in Massachusetts. And in the House,   several more Democrats as well as Republicans have expressed doubts about their reform bill – over abortion coverage and the bill’s lack of cost controls.

We hope the bills get a complete airing and that the votes won’t be tied to artificially imposed deadlines, which will serve to limit the debates. Whatever happens need to be well thought out and not jammed down the throats of the American people.

Nueterra has said all along that Congress is debating the wrong bills, which continue to ignore some of the solutions that can be alleviated through physician ownership of medical facilities. Nueterra understands the need to curb costs and we are part of the solution. That’s why we’re moving ahead on the development of new facilities. We’ve been down this road before and we are committed to providing opportunities for physician ownership wherever we can.

As we’ve said before, health care can be reformed from within without a sweeping overhaul. Here’s how:

• Put a cap on medical malpractice damages. It’s time to stand up to the lawyers and put a limit on medical malpractice damages.

• Create real incentives for individuals to open health savings accounts. We’ve consistently maintained that the only real way to reform health care is to turn patients into intelligent consumers.

• Allow insurance companies to sell their plans across state lines; it’s simply putting our free enterprise system to work.

• Allow trade associations and guild members the ability to band together and purchase group insurance.

• Create state-based high-risk insurance pools for individuals who have difficulty obtaining insurance coverage.