We are cutting too Much!

I admitted a patient into the hospital around 3:40pm. Normal protocol is once the patient is registered the attending nurse or medical assistant calls for a "redcoat" to come and escort the patient to his or her room. The registrar can also call for a redcoat. I called the redcoat at the nurse's request and gave the necessary info.  I was told by the dispatcher it may be awhile because we are short, but they are on the way. Now I'm thinking ok somebody is out today, but when she said awhile I was thinking the patient might have a slight 5-10min wait. Well this process didn't happen......well it did but, it was in such and untimely manner. I was embarrassed...how could something like this happen? My job title permits me from escorting the patient to the floor. Otherwise I would have taken the patient myself with no problem. Liability issues..... By now it's 3:50pm so I called redcoat again to check on the progress for my patient, but I got no answer. Hellooooooo!?! The patient is being admitted into the hospital for a reason...The next call was to security (4:24 pm) and to my surprise I was told not only was my call for my patient not documented, but also the redcoats leave at 4pm since the cutbacks. OMG! Really? There has been no announcement of the cutback of such services.  Eventually the Nurse manager wheeled the patient to their room right before 4:30pm.  All of that did not make sense....well some parts. I understand we need to cut costs....fine, but do not place my life, my family's life or anyone else's life in jeopardy for you to save a dollar. Needless to say the patient was fine and really did good throughout the ordeal. Considering she was in pain and didn't feel well she did great because I would not have been so nice after the first 15 minutes.

Let us all think on this:

http://youtu.be/DobnuZ7ecg8

 

Medical errors kill hundreds of thousands

Well this is a touchy subject. I would not want to be a person who experienced a medical error. We must sometimes think we are all human and humans are not perfect…..mistakes do happen, but I don’t want to die from someone’s error. Preventable medical errors kill and seriously injure hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. Any discussion of medical negligence that does not involve preventable medical errors ignores this fundamental problem. And while some interested parties would prefer to focus on doctors’ insurance premiums, health care costs, or alternative compensation systems—anything other than the negligence itself—reducing medical errors is the best way to address all the related problems. Preventing medical errors will lower health care costs, reduce doctors’ insurance premiums, and protect the health and well-being of patients. 

 

The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) seminal study of preventable medical errors estimated as many as 98,000 people die every year at a cost of $29 billion.¹ If the Centers for Disease Control were to include preventable medical errors as a category, these conclusions would make it the sixth leading cause of death in America. That seems so unreal to me. That number is that large! I am shocked and nervous now.  Considering we all have put trust in another person before, but never to the extent of life or death at least not on the regular basis.  I put my trust in God and pray I never have to experience such medical error.

Kaiser Daily Health reported that nearly 1,500 Hospitals Penalized Under Medicare Program Rating Quality.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/November/14/value-based-purchasing-medicare.aspx

Kaiser Daily Health reported that nearly 1,500 Hospitals Penalized Under Medicare Program Rating Quality. Working in the healthcare industry I had heard some talks about hospital cuts, Medicare paying less, and other Obama Care issues. According to Kaiser more hospitals are receiving penalties than bonuses in the second year of Medicare’s quality incentive program, and the average penalty is steeper than it was last year, government records show.   Hmmmmmmm for some reason this report doesn’t surprise me.  I’m sure by now we’ve all have noticed that life necessities have went up in price. Things like gas, food, and insurance all have increased along with the cost of living.  I would expect the healthcare pricing to go up too. I think this is coming across as a shock to many Americans.  Houston we have a problem and it is with our healthcare system.  Medicare and Medicaid are the most common insurance in the U.S. and they interact with each other. Although one is state maintained it still dealt with cuts also.  Normally providers & facilities get paid a portion of every dollar that is filed.  For example Medicare pays 80% of each $1.  So hospitals and other facilities are not getting dollar for dollar on every claim filed.  There was a recent announcement at the local hospital here saying that the employees were not getting bonuses this year and they would not get raises.  Of course this was a shocker to most of its employees, but it seems as if everyone is struggling now this day in time and are doing more with less. The bonuses and penalties are one piece of the health care law’s efforts to create financial incentives for doctors and hospitals to provide better care. They come at a tumultuous time as the technical problems of the healthcare.gov insurance portal and premium prices are stoking questions about the law’s viability. The incentives are among the law’s few cost-control provisions that have kicked in, but it is too early to tell how effective they will be in making hospitals operate more efficiently.

 

'Rained In'?

Political Cartoon: 'Rained In?' By Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Cartoons/2013/November/Rained-In.aspx


This cartoon made me smirk in such a way that made me think about what the picture is actually showing. What I understand out of this picture is that many Americans that have medical insurance do not carry enough insurance and are really underinsured. This picture shows a man and little girl in the rain with a very small umbrella that is not covering them. The President cartoon is holding a larger umbrella that will cover the man and his daughter both saying. The cartoon states the man's coverage doesn't meet minimum standard. The man is fussing because he wants to keep his original coverage even though he doesn't have enough coverage for him or his daughter.

 I personally do want an "half-assed" insurance policy that doesn't cover any of the services I nor my family needs.  Why pay for something that is not doing the job it's supposed to do. You don't buy an umbrella just for the sake of buying one. If the umbrella is too small for you then its definitely not going to provide the proper coverage to you from the rain.   Healthcare reform and The Affordable Healthcare Act have been a big conversation piece to just about every citizen. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. The law puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will roll out over four years and beyond. Everyone is not going to agree and you cant please everyone, but I think there needs to be some kind of reform because the current structure is not sufficient in any means.

I hate to be the one to tell you

Working with the public means you come across many faces, attitudes, and personalities.  This can help the work day go by fast and also hinder it from becoming "quitting time".  I encountered a patient in which English was not her first language.  I informed her that I was having trouble verifying her insurance and it showed her as being inactive.  Of course she was against it and started to get upset and question what I had just told her.  She went on saying the insurance is through her ex husband and she had just used it at another facility with no issues.  I stated to the patient I will call the insurance company to make sure. So I called Tricare to see what was going on.  I gave the Tricare rep the patient's info and the response I got back was not good.  The representative stated that the patient in fact did NOT have coverage and the spouse had re-married and put the new spouse's info in for coverage.  Ohhhhhhh Lord it is about to get real!  I'm thinking like how in the world am I supposed to say "Ma'am you do not have coverage anymore and your ex has remarried and listed his new wife for benefits."  I tried explaining this the best way I could, but it did not go over so well with the patient. The patient went ballistic, crying and sobbing.  She went on crying saying things like "How could he do this to me?" We were married for 38 years." "I am entitled to benefits!" "I want my benefits!" I felt soooooo sorry for her.  Until things progressed and I dug deeper info the facts.  Truth is yes the patient was once married for 38 years to a military serving spouse, but they divorced in early 2012.  The ex spouse did in fact remarry and list his new spouse for benefits.  Well there is nothing wrong with that except the patient did not know the ex had remarried or that her insurance was termed, but she just found out unfortunately. I hate it happened the way it did. While trying to calm the patient down I was able to speak with a different rep who stated the patient may be eligible for benefits, but she needed to provide basic info as well as some documents.  The rep verified the patient's mailing address and come to find out the patient never turned in the info that actually had been sent out several times.  The patient had not done what she was supposed to do in the time period allotted and she would have to start the process all over. It has almost been a year and you still have not did what you need to do in order for you to receive your "entitled" insurance benefits.  How could you sit up here and act like you don't know anything about your situation?  Yes you did just find out your ex has now remarried,but you failed to say you had started and not finished everything needed to complete the request.  So why did I have to deal with all of that? I was insulted and told I didn't know what I was doing.  Now in the end was all that necessary? Especially when you as the patient knew what you needed to do.  I think she was just hurt about the ex remarrying, but you still need to handle your business, but I am sorry I had to be the one to tell you.