Healthcare costs

[Randi]

I find it horrendous if the situation is so that people with a low income or are unemployed can't have free healthcare, it should be every person's right! I would much rather pay higher taxes (like we do in Denmark) and know you can go to a hospital without paying.

[RICHARD]

I could post the same thing over and over again.

The high cost of healthcare is related to the idea that you can sue the doctor, manufacturers of meds, equipment and implants and med centers, hospitals.

YES, if the doc comes into the OR and takes out your appendix while he is drunk, when you were scheduled for a gall bladder removal, SUE SUE SUE!

But, I see commercials on the tube from lawyers looking for people who have been given a certain drug. "If you have been given XXXXXXX during surgery and have developed XXXXXXX you MAY HAVE A CASE AGAINST THE MANUFACTURER!.

The lawsuit goes forward, the jury awards 10 milliom, jillion dollars and the HC system that loses HAS to raise the rates/cost for services....

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Again, Do not fall for the medical series on the tube. No matter what happens, you will not be treated within one half to one hour.

Drunk, rude, substance abusing doctors would never last one day, let alone one season in a hospital.

A miracle drug/test/procedure really works....in the script.

Question you HC provider. Don't go in with a list of symptons you pulled off the internet that lead you to believe your projectile vomiting has to do with
your earache.

Don't be embarrassed to tell your doctor your problems/concerns.

For way too long we have taken the position that "Doctors know Best".

Not true, they only know what info they get from YOU.

Be part of your HC treatments-don't hesitate and do not diagnose yourself.

Check you med bills and ask questions.

IT is you health at stake.

[cassiesmom]

Somewhere I read that 45 cents out of every dollar spent on health care goes to administrative costs. Two teaching hospitals in Chicago have laid off nurses because patients are unable to pay their bills, resulting in decreased cash flow. I think that as long as there are insurance lobbyists and attorneys going for huge malpractice verdicts, there will be no easy answers to the question of what to do about health care.

[Medusa]

Something needs to be done but I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what that something is. I can barely afford my health insurance and I received notice that my premium is going up again by $150 a year! C'mon! At my age, if I cancel, I'll never get insured again, so I have to cut back somewhere else. The thought of the govt. taking control, though, scares me. My health care system is bad but I know that it can get much worse if the govt. gets ahold of it. I'm not litigious, I'm not a complainer, I don't go to the dr. w/a hangnail but when I do go, I expect to be seen w/in a reasonable amount of time and I insist that the dr. really listen to me. If I'm going to wait for weeks to get an appt., then be shuffled in and out quickly, then keep your "free" health care. I'll find the money somewhere somehow.

[rosethecopycat]

it should be every person's right!

I disagree. IMO, it is not a right. It is a service. I am willing to pay, but what else are we paying for that goes up 15% a year, every year? With little or no options or alternatives.

Medusa- I'm with you. That's exactly what I think of Dr. visits.

Every year my premium goes up $100 a MONTH, or roughly $1000-1200 a year.

In Florida, at least, you cannot even buy and keep a catastrophic policy anymore. That's all the coverage many young, healthy people need. Writing those types of policies would help the problem greatly. Just covering catastrophic emergencies, no RX, no Dr visits, etc.

But would people pay for the policy? No matter how low the premium was?
Many people would still say they 'can't afford' it, even with a premium under $100 a month. No, they resent having to pay anything.

I have always considered it my responsibility to have medical insurance, for the last 30 years now. I've always paid for it myself, and never set foot out of the house without it. But now, I admit, it is getting rather difficult, as they take half of my money, and my rate will go up 10-15% in October.

[RICHARD]

DO NOT LET THE IDIOTS IN D.C. fool you into NATIONALIZED HC.

Start by looking into the multi million handouts from court cases that are so blatantly outrageous that they boggle the mind.

Put limits on what juries can award first.

That will lower the prices of malpractice insurance, the costs of producing meds, implants and services.

IT's a simple fix, take the F wad ambulance chasers out of the picture and thing wll get reasonable.

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Our prez just came out and touted the EMR-electronic medical record.

Now, All you 'privacy advocates' should take note about the EMR and the ability for hackers and stupid employees to access YOUR information.

The company that I worked for started to look towards the EMR in '89. 20 years ago-there barely got it together in the last two year to implement the system.

This same company was fined 250,000 dollars and they fired and counseled 20+ employees for accessing the records on the OCTOMOM. Private records? Nope, if you have a password to access the system, you can peek into any record in that particular system.

This also happened in one of the university hospitals, where some celebrities had their records looked at.

Another problem is someone accessing you info then having to leave that station/terminal logged in and having someone come in behind them and seeing what they were looking at.

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Part of the problems for any electronic info gathering systems is that you are forcing the RNs, LVNs, NPs and other people to waste time trying to log info into the system.

One of the new ideas was to have PDAs that the docs would carry around with them, log patient info they go back to their offices or nurse stations and down load the info into the system.

LOL, I used to find pagers, stethoscopes and even wallets in the bathrooms that belonged to them. If a doctor loses a day's worth of info on his patients, what happens then?

Even though a paper system is bulky and archaic, it put the info down on one page and it was a verifiable source is something needed to be looked at.

----------------------

In the old world, Doctor's would make a telephone order, the nurse would document that on the chart, sign the Dr's name and initial it.

Now there is no validating an order or 'signature' in the doctor orders.

Complicate that for nurses who will take the easy way out and use a terminal that is opened on another account or asked a co-worker to note the order.

In the perfect world, no one would snoop, take the easy way out or make a mistake in typing out info that goes into a PERMANENT RECORD.

Just wait, the stories of medical malpractice-another cost inducing bugaboo in HC- stemming from screwed up data in EMR systems will start to surface.

-------------------------

"Hi, I am calling in for my prescription......It should be ready!"


"Nope, it doesn't show up on my computer!!!!"

"But, I spoke to my physician yesterday!"

"It's not in the computer, so I cannot help you!"


Your (insert the malady here) can wait for the data to catch up?

[Edwina's Secretary]

You can learn alot from PetTalk....like herehttp://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=153276 and learn about just how well our healthcare system works.

Or perhaps you remember one of our members taking up a collection to pay for her hearing equipment? Because as a recent graduate - not yet employed - she does not have medical insurance.

We have the most expensive healthcare system in the world (greatest spending per capita). And by standard measures our healthcare rates no higher than 17th.

People (as in politicians and the like...) say healthcare should be between the patient and the doctor. All fine and well if you have a doctor. By our system - no insurance - no doctor - except the emergency room. Which drives the price up.

If you have been treated for acne - insurance companies will deny you coverage.

To be the only western country that accepts a system where medical care is so expensive and only available to those who can afford it -- without delivering value is an embarassment. People who live in countries with single payer systems - when surveyed (not "one off anecdotal" stuff) are more satisfied with the care they get.

Getting the facts about the cost and quality of other systems helps to get past the fear of the unknown!

[rosethecopycat]

DO NOT LET THE IDIOTS IN D.C. fool you into NATIONALIZED HC.

Start by looking into the multi million handouts from court cases that are so blatantly outrageous that they boggle the mind.

Put limits on what juries can award first.

That will lower the prices of malpractice insurance, the costs of producing meds, implants and services.

IT's a simple fix, take the F wad ambulance chasers out of the picture and thing wll get reasonable.

---------------------------------------


Our prez just came out and touted the EMR-electronic medical record.

Now, All you 'privacy advocates' should take note about the EMR and the ability for hackers and stupid employees to access YOUR information.

The company that I worked for started to look towards the EMR in '89. 20 years ago-there barely got it together in the last two year to implement the system.

This same company was fined 250,000 dollars and they fired and counseled 20+ employees for accessing the records on the OCTOMOM. Private records? Nope, if you have a password to access the system, you can peek into any record in that particular system.

This also happened in one of the university hospitals, where some celebrities had their records looked at.

Another problem is someone accessing you info then having to leave that station/terminal logged in and having someone come in behind them and seeing what they were looking at.

----------------------------------

Part of the problems for any electronic info gathering systems is that you are forcing the RNs, LVNs, NPs and other people to waste time trying to log info into the system.

One of the new ideas was to have PDAs that the docs would carry around with them, log patient info they go back to their offices or nurse stations and down load the info into the system.

LOL, I used to find pagers, stethoscopes and even wallets in the bathrooms that belonged to them. If a doctor loses a day's worth of info on his patients, what happens then?

Even though a paper system is bulky and archaic, it put the info down on one page and it was a verifiable source is something needed to be looked at.

----------------------

In the old world, Doctor's would make a telephone order, the nurse would document that on the chart, sign the Dr's name and initial it.

Now there is no validating an order or 'signature' in the doctor orders.

Complicate that for nurses who will take the easy way out and use a terminal that is opened on another account or asked a co-worker to note the order.

In the perfect world, no one would snoop, take the easy way out or make a mistake in typing out info that goes into a PERMANENT RECORD.

Just wait, the stories of medical malpractice-another cost inducing bugaboo in HC- stemming from screwed up data in EMR systems will start to surface.

-------------------------

"Hi, I am calling in for my prescription......It should be ready!"


"Nope, it doesn't show up on my computer!!!!"

"But, I spoke to my physician yesterday!"

"It's not in the computer, so I cannot help you!"


Your (insert the malady here) can wait for the data to catch up?

Richard, Central Services has just informed me that you have been promoted to Information Retrieval.

[RICHARD]

Richard, Central Services has just informed me that you have been promoted to Information Retrieval.

Dead pan or Bed pan humor?


I almost spit up my evening cocktail all over my WHITE t-shirt.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I read in the newspaper this weekend about 60% of the bankruptcies in this country are a result of medical care.

The system we have is broken. We are paying top dollar for inferior care. While complaining about it we don't want to look at solution that might be "government"...

Sort of like cursing the darkness while refusing to light a candle...

[rosethecopycat]

Dead pan or Bed pan humor?


I almost spit up my evening cocktail all over my WHITE t-shirt.

Your name is Mr. Buttle, correct?

[rosethecopycat]

I'd still rather go with strong Tort reform and less government control.

[RICHARD]

Your name is Mr. Buttle, correct?

Well, kinda..

The end that don't face people is..

[joycenalex]

[QUOTE=RICHARD;2159809...Part of the problems for any electronic info gathering systems is that you are forcing the RNs, LVNs, NPs and other people to waste time trying to log info into the system.

richard, on my job at a columbus hospital system, you are assigned an employee id, there is an audit trail of who goes where in the system, i can only look at radiology stuff...do we have the last digitized mamm films for todays study, did the report on the patient with the broken arm get sent to the family doctor (side note about that coming up). i cannot access what i don't need for my job, so no lab, no surgery notes, no floor nurse notes for me. if i try to look at that section,the yellow block screen comes on. i do 3 different modalities of xray, so i move from area to area and computer to computer. log ins take less then 30 and there is timeout features, so if i'm not using the terminal for 10 minutes, i'm booted off. really good things about EMR....because of the system our hospital uses, the PCP can get stat calls with critical results in 3 minutes...yes dr smith hears about that case of pneumonia in under 5 minutes on the 87yr old patient....in our building, those images are on their results computer before that patient gets back upstairs. if mrs green is a call back mammo from eastside, and she comes to me at the west office, her mamm films are in my computer, so i know exactly what special views to do. the chance of misplaced films is way way down, no more residents "borrowing" films, no more surgeons leaving the original films to melt in their trunk of their car, the radiologist can compare the last 10 chest xrays on patients. while i hated the timeout at first, it's second nature now for me to pick up my xray order, do the patients images, log in, do computer documentation and log out. these are all good things.