Comments on: Specialty Hospitals 1.2

By: DrTony

DrTony — Tue, 17 May 2005 03:48:00 +0000

CAN i get a HALLELUJAH!! YEA-AS INDEED.

By: DrTony

DrTony — Tue, 17 May 2005 01:48:00 +0000

CAN i get a HALLELUJAH!! YEA-AS INDEED.

By: symtym

symtym — Sun, 15 May 2005 13:33:00 +0000

jb, I’ll join you in the choir…

By: jb

jb — Sun, 15 May 2005 12:39:00 +0000

The AP story notes: “Construction of about 100 such hospitals nationwide has led to concern that they harm general hospitals’ ability to survive and meet the needs of all patients. As a result, Congress placed a moratorium on construction of new specialty hospitals that expires next month. …”

No mention of the fact that general hospitals are threatened because it is Congress that mandates that hospitals spend whatever it takes to care for anyone who shows up at the ER, and provides no mechanism for the hospitals to be reimbursed. Or that Medicare reimburses less than the cost of caring for its patients, and never mind Medicaid. No mention of the requirement that any doc who works at the general hospital is required to care for patients at its ER, frequently for no reimbursement, for increased malpractice liability exposure, often at 2:00 am.

No mention. It would interfere with the meme that it’s greedy doctors who are cream-skimming and ruining the medical care system for Americans. It’s so easy to demonize the rich doctors.

By: symtym

symtym — Sun, 15 May 2005 11:33:00 +0000

jb, I'll join you in the choir…

By: jb

jb — Sun, 15 May 2005 10:39:00 +0000

The AP story notes: "Construction of about 100 such hospitals nationwide has led to concern that they harm general hospitals' ability to survive and meet the needs of all patients. As a result, Congress placed a moratorium on construction of new specialty hospitals that expires next month. …"

No mention of the fact that general hospitals are threatened because it is Congress that mandates that hospitals spend whatever it takes to care for anyone who shows up at the ER, and provides no mechanism for the hospitals to be reimbursed. Or that Medicare reimburses less than the cost of caring for its patients, and never mind Medicaid. No mention of the requirement that any doc who works at the general hospital is required to care for patients at its ER, frequently for no reimbursement, for increased malpractice liability exposure, often at 2:00 am.

No mention. It would interfere with the meme that it's greedy doctors who are cream-skimming and ruining the medical care system for Americans. It's so easy to demonize the rich doctors.

By: symtym

symtym — Sat, 14 May 2005 11:40:00 +0000

Cream skimming and a great example of incentivized behavior. Two birds are killed (if you can walk your practice away from a general hospital) with the specialty hospital:

1. better reimbursements, “weller” patients

2. get out from the EMTALA umbrella and on-call duties

I agree, they are just a symptom of the greater issue of how healthcare is funded in the US.

By: Galen

Galen — Sat, 14 May 2005 11:31:00 +0000

Specialty hospitals are an attempt to game the system. It should come as no suprise to Congress (or anyone else) that people will try to take advantage of unequal distribution in Medicare. If they want to correct the problem, they’ll have to either make the reimbursement for these areas more in line with everything else or get out of the way and let the market set the prices.

The appearence of specialty hospitals is the symptom of Medicare pricing problems, not the problem itself.

By: symtym

symtym — Sat, 14 May 2005 09:40:00 +0000

Cream skimming and a great example of incentivized behavior. Two birds are killed (if you can walk your practice away from a general hospital) with the specialty hospital:

1. better reimbursements, "weller" patients

2. get out from the EMTALA umbrella and on-call duties

I agree, they are just a symptom of the greater issue of how healthcare is funded in the US.

By: Galen

Galen — Sat, 14 May 2005 09:31:00 +0000

Specialty hospitals are an attempt to game the system. It should come as no suprise to Congress (or anyone else) that people will try to take advantage of unequal distribution in Medicare. If they want to correct the problem, they'll have to either make the reimbursement for these areas more in line with everything else or get out of the way and let the market set the prices.

The appearence of specialty hospitals is the symptom of Medicare pricing problems, not the problem itself.