On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed into law the long-debated healthcare reform bill. Now, New Hanover and Brunswick County healthcare providers are rolling up their sleeves to adapt to this historic change to their industry.

“Making sure there are enough physicians to provide care for [the] newly insured is critical,” said Jack Barto, CEO of New Hanover Regional Medical Center. The hospital has a new pediatric surgeon joining the staff this summer and its physician group continues to grow, said Erin Balzotti, NHRMC spokeswoman. “We will also be working closely with the physician groups in the area to support them and help them determine areas of needed growth,” she said.

The new law will require most Americans to be covered by healthcare insurance and it will provide tax breaks to small businesses that cover employees.

“We are working with the health plans to define quality and to start to develop different reimbursement models that more closely align with the future of healthcare,” said Jeff James, CEO of Wilmington Health Associates.

“We have been working for several months to prepare for the changing paradigm and believe we have a formula that will deliver on these attributes,” James said. Collaboration with other providers, including New Hanover Regional Medical Center, is part of Wilmington Health Associates’ new formula.

“We have given access to certain aspects of our medical record to other providers when it is needed to improve the care given to their patients. We have installed the same digital imaging software as used by the hospital in an effort to help develop a community wide imaging solution and reduce the duplication of expensive radiology,” James said.

“There are still several unknowns about how reform will actually operate and we are concerned about the cost of reform,” he said.

“We in the health system in Novant are working on a system,” said Amy Meyers, spokeswoman for Brunswick Community Hospital.

Although Brunswick Community Hospital does not have any definite plans yet, it has been looking critically at its system as if all procedures were reimbursed at Medicare rates.

“We as an industry agreed to accept less payment from Medicare and Medicaid as part of this effort and we expect some of these revenues will be offset by the revenue from those currently uninsured,” Barto said.

Wilmington Health Associates, the largest local physicians’ group, will host “Healthcare Reform and Its Impact on Your Practice,” a discussion next week with a public policy developer, who works on issues relating to physicians’ practices. Washington, D.C.-based legislative liaison for the American Medical Group Association, Chet Speed, will present to local physicians on Tues., April 6 at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside at 5:30 p.m.