Comments on: Hospitals lose money by preventing patient re-admissions http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/hospitals-lose-money-by-preventing.html medical blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:50:49 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Cheryl http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/hospitals-lose-money-by-preventing.html/comment-page-1#comment-111186 Cheryl Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:23:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2009/05/hospitals-lose-money-by-preventing-patient-re-admissions.html#comment-111186 Reality check: hospitalists at many very reputable facilities are told to save money, triage pts and clear the bed. These docs look at pts in snapshot mode! But the elderly & chronically ill cant be triaged w/o us expecting readmits. Hospitalists have told me they WILL NOT contact current treaters bc "that would just muddy the waters.". And i think Duke in Durham is among the best! Reality check: hospitalists at many very reputable facilities are told to save money, triage pts and clear the bed. These docs look at pts in snapshot mode! But the elderly & chronically ill cant be triaged w/o us expecting readmits. Hospitalists have told me they WILL NOT contact current treaters bc “that would just muddy the waters.”. And i think Duke in Durham is among the best!

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/hospitals-lose-money-by-preventing.html/comment-page-1#comment-91382 Anonymous Sat, 16 May 2009 00:20:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2009/05/hospitals-lose-money-by-preventing-patient-re-admissions.html#comment-91382 The disincentive is a natural result of fee for service medicine. The quicker and more efficiently the patient recovers, the less money you make. Bad care drive out good.<br /><br />Capitation provides disincentives to providing care at all and especially to life-prolonging care for the chronically ill.<br /><br />All of which just goes to say that ethics of professionalism--all for the patient--must dominate the heart and mind of the decision makers in any health care system no matter what the payment system or woe to the sick.<br /><br />Which is also why doctors ought to be in charge. Far too many have been seduced by the group think of some HMO's or unbridled profit seeking business values in some private systems---but most still put patients over self-interest and the profession is still centered on a nucleus of millenia old Hippocratic professionalism that put back in leadership positions can keep the health care system focused on it's real mission: all for the patient. The disincentive is a natural result of fee for service medicine. The quicker and more efficiently the patient recovers, the less money you make. Bad care drive out good.

Capitation provides disincentives to providing care at all and especially to life-prolonging care for the chronically ill.

All of which just goes to say that ethics of professionalism–all for the patient–must dominate the heart and mind of the decision makers in any health care system no matter what the payment system or woe to the sick.

Which is also why doctors ought to be in charge. Far too many have been seduced by the group think of some HMO’s or unbridled profit seeking business values in some private systems—but most still put patients over self-interest and the profession is still centered on a nucleus of millenia old Hippocratic professionalism that put back in leadership positions can keep the health care system focused on it’s real mission: all for the patient.

]]> By: Toolbox http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/hospitals-lose-money-by-preventing.html/comment-page-1#comment-91380 Toolbox Fri, 15 May 2009 17:40:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2009/05/hospitals-lose-money-by-preventing-patient-re-admissions.html#comment-91380 Medicare and its recent cuts including bundling charges, reimbursement cuts despite rising costs, Not paying for known complications of procedures etc. are not fair at all. All these policies in addition to the one you mentioned in this post are almost against any explainable logic. The only logical point about them is that they save money but promote erratic practices which ultimately adds to cost of healthcare. Medicare and its recent cuts including bundling charges, reimbursement cuts despite rising costs, Not paying for known complications of procedures etc. are not fair at all. All these policies in addition to the one you mentioned in this post are almost against any explainable logic. The only logical point about them is that they save money but promote erratic practices which ultimately adds to cost of healthcare.

]]>