Reply #3: Single payor doesn't make the costs go away.

[eilen]

Most hospitals have computerized cabinets where we just enter the pt's name and push buttons for the items we need. Medical supplies are expensive. In my job now, we enter forms before we take any supplies and most of our patients are on Medicare until we can electronically order them for home delivery. I think the rest are Medicaid and we don't give them supplies, they get prescriptions and they submit them to drugstores/medical supply companies which deliver them. It's important to control costs in any healthcare environment.