The deck is stacked against physicians working in nursing homes:
All of this results in a significant amount of uncompensated care. Meanwhile, my elderly patients are living in their homes and independent living settings longer these days. That means the patients in nursing homes tend to be sicker and less medically stable, making more uncompensated work and more liability risk for the doctor . . .. . . The homes rely on medical directors for supervising medical affairs at the home. But that’s a job that’s often more liability than it’s worth.
After a local home was fined by the state for failing to notify a doctor promptly about a sick patient, none of the doctors at the hospital wanted to be the medical director.
I decided the liability climate had become too risky even though I’d done the job at another nursing home before. They paid $400 per month to take calls when other doctors didn’t answer their pagers, take new patients that no one else wanted and attend staff meetings.
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- Nursing home cya
- Some hospitals and nursing homes are asking patients to sign arbitration clauses prior to admission
- Will medical homes invent a new health industry?
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A bigger problem I see with nursing home care is the fact that outcomes are inherently not good in an 80-plus population that can’t manage themselves at home. Difficult & unrealistic families are a recurrent theme, adding to potential liability. Our SNF has a full-time “risk management consultant”.
Still, it can be very rewarding taking care of such complicated patients, and many families are extremely grateful to see the same physicians regularly.
I think nursing homes get a bad rap, & regularly see patients admitted to us from home w/ multiple bedsores while enrolled in a home health care program. I understand many people have mixed feelings about nursing homes, and to them I say it’s optional, and you can always take care of grandma at home.
You know what, too many doctors get paid by Medicaid and Medicare and private insurance to be responsible for precriptions and medical orders that can save lives in nursing homes. This Kevin dude is just the type of doctor we family members don’t want in the nursing home setting. You get mad because you don’t respond in a timely manner to sick patient and typically the doctor’s response to the call from the nurse is “call 911.”
What are nursing home doctors doing to earn there per patient per day paycheck. They certainly aren’t really examining patients face to face. They are most likely checking charts at a remote nurses station while trying to avoid family members who have valid questions and concerns. All they want is that paycheck as they stroll down the halls like they are really doing rounds. Man, please. It is called medicaid and medicare fraud. Billing people like they actually checked their progress or addressed any issues.
How about telling the CNAs to bathe the residents or to turn them like they are supposed to. How about finding out which residents are being starved to death or denied water to avoid frequent diaper changes? How about that? The is nothing noble about a doctor who does harm by ignoring patients or faking care!!!
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