TBD on Ning
but what the hell...let's blame obamacare....
so why have medical costs been going thru the roof? gee maybe things like this...which might be why some people never wanted a central agency that might stumble across their schemes...
Every day the scorecards went up, where they could be seen by all of the hospital’s emergency room doctors.
Physicians hitting the target to admit at least half of the patients over 65 years old who entered the emergency department were color-coded green. The names of doctors who were close were yellow. Failing physicians were red.
The scorecards, according to one whistle-blower lawsuit, were just one of the many ways that Health Management Associates, a for-profit hospital chain based in Naples, Fla., kept tabs on an internal strategy that regulators and others say was intended to increase admissions, regardless of whether a patient needed hospital care, and pressure the doctors who worked at the hospital.
This month, the Justice Department said it had joined eight separate whistle-blower lawsuits against H.M.A. in six states. The lawsuits describe a wide-ranging strategy that is said to have relied on a mix of sophisticated software systems, financial incentives and threats in an attempt to inflate the company’s payments from Medicare and Medicaid by admitting patients like an infant whose temperature was a normal 98.7 degrees for a “fever.”
The accusations reach all the way to the former chief executive’s office, whom many of the whistle-blowers point to as driving the strategy.
For H.M.A., the timing could not be worse. Shareholders recently approved the planned $7.6 billion acquisition of the company by Community Health Systems, which will create the nation’s second-largest for-profit hospital chain by revenue, with more than 200 facilities. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/business/hospital-chain-said-to-s...
Views: 70
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by LoveLife&Laughter on
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We need nationalized healthcare. If we have to get rid of the Republicans to do it, so be it.
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Permalink Reply by exedir on
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Of course medicine is big business and why not?, it is where the money is. As to economic behavior it hasn't always been this way with medicine and medical services. Once the leaders in institutional care took vows of chastity and poverty with the intent of service to mankind and charity. Once it was considered unethical to make a profit off human suffering.
And of course that was sometime ago, and now we have something different, a combination of financing and a model that rewards both bad and good service with little link to results obtained for either the patient, payor or overall country and economy.
The ACA doesn't really fix the problem, what it does do is push the debate further along as the real challenges that we face is how much and what expectations are we going to accept and what will be the limit of what we can afford for whom and how long.
And yes, it is complicated, dark and depressing subject to get ones' arms around the challenge and problem...
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You are absolutely right Exedir. But who not only politicized healthcare in this country, but is still fighting tooth and nail to keep the status quo, where greed of a few unscrupulous "Robber Barons" supersedes ethics and the common good.
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Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on
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it isn't really all that complicated...some of these fuckers are crooks...when you have some of the insurance companies, hospital corporations and all the related medical businesses acting unethically,if not illegally with deceptive practices and improper if not fraudulant billingsto garner more than they are due and owed by the patients or the representatives of those patients, then that is where the blame lies for some of the unjustified cost increases....the blame obamacare comment was facetious.
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Caveat emptor, consumer beware....what we have here is bad consumption and poor choice...which is what capitalism can wrought...and no, the government has a hard time doing better...it is going to depend on the patients and providers to get it right...and that will take knowledge, understanding and learning and it is and is always going to be tough....because choices must be made...
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By the latest, but still opaque reports, ObamaCare has reached the 3 million plan signups which probably brings it out of the shadow of structural failure. There remains a little more than two months to get the demographics if not the numbers signed up.
However, with the new numbers most insurers are probably within the corridors of risk guaranteed by the Act to that they too will be protected from catastrophic losses in their respective risk pools.
The question is how is this actually going to work, and can the invincibles be brought in to enrich the risk pools.
There is much left to see as to how this is going to work and clearly there will have to be changes and fixes in the future, but overall, it is here to stay, the ACA, and it will impact the whole system both for good and not so good as the results and operations settle.
And yes, there will be plenty to run on by the Republicans in 2014 and the operation of ObamaCare will be one of them whether the supporters like it or not.
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The Republicans don't like Obamacare but 80% of the people don't want it taken away.
I think you meant there will be plenty for Democrats to run on in 2014:
We want Obamacare,
We don't like Republican costing us a fortune and shutting down the government, and
We don't like the Republican states war on women; trying to deny women their constitutional rights to women's health care.
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so let me get this straight..(no pun intended). the gop's attempts to curtail women's rights by voting against the ledbetter bill, by voting for onerous and unconstitutional abortion restrictions, by trying to deny women equal rights and opportunities while talking down to females in general are all overshadowed because bill clinton got a blowjob 15 years ago?
Rand Paul: Bill Clinton's 'predatory' affair with Monica Lewinsky predates 'war on women'
Republican Sen. Rand Paul lashed out at Democrats over pushing the idea of the GOP's "war on women" while forgiving former President Bill Clinton for his "predatory" affair with Monica Lewinsky.
"The Democrats, one of their big issues is they have concocted and said Republicans are committing a war on women," Paul said on NBC's "Meet The Press" Sunday. "One of the workplace laws and rules that I think are good is that bosses shouldn't prey on young interns in their office.
"And I think really the media seems to have given President Clinton a pass on this," the Kentucky senator continued. "He took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office. There is no excuse for that, and that is predatory behavior, and it should be something we shouldn't want to associate with people who would take advantage of a young girl in his office."
Clinton's sexual relationship with Lewinsky, then a 22-year-old White House intern, led to his impeachment in 1998 and subsequent trial. Clinton was eventually acquitted of the impeachment charges.
http://news.yahoo.com/rand-paul-bill-clinton-war-on-women-175239980...
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Just another distraction; change the subject.
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It well always be the economy stupid...as far as ObamaCare is concerned, much of it is yet to come as to what will and what will not happen to individuals and families as the actual selected health plans are implemented and experienced. As far as the ACA is concerned, it is here and it will change but not repealed.
As to everyone liking what is actually going to happen, iffy. One thing in general to like the provisions another to experience it individually as services and treatment are needed.
The war on women is a phrase that serves to emphasis what a society and a culture are going to do about gender, does it mean anything, or does it mean everything.
Overall, the issue will be of perceived leadership, hope, faith and belief that one side or the other has the answer or answers, then it will be up to who actually shows up at the polls as to how 2014 will play out. The current line is the House stays the same, the Senate shifts a little to the right. The missing piece is what will happen in the state and local elections that are a part of 2014.
The big play, at least to the media, is now on to 2016, which makes the current administration marginal as to domestic influence as the gravity pull of Planet Hillary takes over.
What IS important is what the administration does internationally, and already has a full plate with Syria, Iran and Afghanistan much less anywhere else we get involved in, and includes three more years of policies and actions.
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Are we still talking about Obamacare?
Does everyone one realize Republicans said the same thing about Social Security and Medicare, they still are. Why would they treat Obamacare any different, they are all social.
Are we forgetting Universal healthcare already works well in almost every country in the world? We are the only one too stupid to follow suit until now. If history is any experience, it'll work fine
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