There’s no question that many hospitals are going through difficult financial times.
The Washington Post writes that many hospitals are “reporting that donations and investment returns are down, patient visits are flat and profitable diagnostic procedures and elective surgeries are declining as people with inadequate insurance delay care.”
Physician Doug Farrago smells a bailout request in the works, and wonders why hospital administrators aren’t mentioned as part of cost-cutting measures. To that effect, he also asks “why aren’t the CEO salaries mentioned?”
Surely a cut in hospital executive pay can save more than a few nursing jobs.
Related posts:
- Bailout for health care
- EKGs for everyone?
- How will the economy affect the prospects for health reform?
- How following hospital quality measures can kill patients
- Recruiting versus retaining doctors
- My take: Preventive care, Atlas, $$$, Grady bailout
- Comparing hospital quality and cost in Massachusetts
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I’m surprised nobody has mentioned escalating ‘facility wars’ as a factor. This isn’t the ‘field of dreams’ – if you build it, they (patients) will come. Sure, it’s nice to have a new facility with wood floors, piano players, and 5 star cuisine in attempt to one-up your competition’s edifice complex. Maybe not so much if only Medicare patients can afford to use it. Sure it’s nice to have the latest and greatest MRI – my magnet is bigger than your magnet! Too bad my big-name PPO now requires preauthorization for imaging other than x-rays. It will be a supercooled day in hell before I get an MRI, unless I’m in a crash or something. Yes, cut the unnecessary administrative overhead! Who (besides maybe JCAHO) goes to a hospital to see an administrator? But consider cutting down on some of the unnecessary building and spurious upgrading, unless the place is disintegrating around you and patients are flocking away in droves… Whopping doses of common sense all around, please.
Kevin–This is a hot topic that I have been reading about ever since the AHA report was released. What I don’t understand is that every time I read about hospitals trying to cut costs without cutting care, no one ever mentions adopting a medical device reprocessing program. I’ll be up front — I do work for a company that sells reprocessed devices. But I’ve seen it time and time again — once hospitals/physicians adopt this kind of program, the question becomes, “Why didn’t we do this sooner?” It’s a no-brainer. Devices are FDA-cleared and it saves money that can be reallocated toward patient care, better equipment, IT, etc. — and it supports hospitals’ “green” initiatives without impacting costs. Hospitals need to really do their research on reprocessing technology; it could be a saving grace during this economic slump.
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