With all the stress today with hospitals endeavoring to take care of patients in the economy today, these figures no doubt are being examined and re-examined and hospitals are looking for ways to stay in business. These efforts include layoffs, closing facilities, etc. You can read about those efforts in my monthly posts on Desperate Hospitals.
This story is somewhat looking at another side of the entire crisis, is there pressure on the ER physicians to admit more patients? Every business, and hospitals included pretty much know what their bottom line is today, in other words the bare necessities to pay the bills and keep the doors open without going into the red.
After watching this video, is the pressure mounting to the point to where we might be having to look at “creative admissions”? It sounds like the physicians here were put into a Catch 22 position, as when the business intelligence reports were analyzed, the group was then told some of their admissions were not required, so a new group was brought in to do a better job? There have been recent stories in the news where some hospitals created billing fraud to pad the bottom line too, so I hope this is certainly not a trend.
I can’t think of any doctor in his right mind that would want to admit a patient to the hospital if not needed by their illness. On the other hand the hospitals are working to try to stay in business too, so what gives here? It looks like we are back once again to money. If the funds were available, patients were being treated, hospitals were not under financial pressure, would this be taking place? I think we can all pretty much figure that one out. It appears to be creating a battleground here that really should not exist and is outside the realm of good patient and healthcare. BD
Related Reading:
Closing the Chemotherapy/Outpatient Clinic In Las Vegas and nowhere to go – University Medical Center
Schwarzenegger and Celebrities Lobby for Better Health Care
Help Your Hospital – New York Budget Cuts threaten Hospital Funds
Consolidation in Health Insurance Carriers – Who will be the king of risk management?
Desperate Hospitals – March 2009 Update
Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update
Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008
Desperate Hospitals – September 2008
Thanks for sharing. Indeed, hospitals and physicians SHOULD be on the same side, all for patient care. The shrinking medical dollar, at the same time we're spending so many more medical dollars, puts them at each other's throats. Bad for patients. Real bad.
ReplyDeleteI agree and I'm sure this is going on outside of Texas too, unfortunately.
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