Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Medicare fines over hospitals' readmitted patients [View all]magical thyme
(14,881 posts)We also have a large number of noncompliant diabetes, alcoholic and drug abuse patients. Plus a lot of tourists and "snowbirds" who we can't follow up on easily.
It doesn't matter how much treatment we give noncompliant patients; if they don't take their meds and/or don't change their behavior, they will be back. I see a disaster in the making for us, myself.
We already lose millions on the Medicare, Medicaid and charity patients. We are losing insured patients because we can no longer make up the difference on them. Along with many other hospitals in our state, we are already owed millions of dollars from our state, are cutting back staff right and left, are closing smaller hospitals in our system, with the remaining staff left being run into the ground with more patients and fewer staff.
We also have a couple of older doctors who insist on running duplicate tests -- eg the old ESR test *plus* the newer CRP test -- that give essentially the same information. They don't "get" that they only need to do one or the other. We also have a couple new, young and insecure doctors that run every test under the sun, eg a double set of (very expensive) blood cultures on everybody who walks into the ER, regardless of the obvious signs and symptoms.
Our lab assistants are so run into the ground that out of 12 of them, we've lost (and not replaced) 4 in the last year due to herniated discs and chronic illness from overwork (12+ hour days bending over patients will do that) and one quitting without notice. How many will they have to break before they realize they are running the experienced ones into the ground faster than they can replace them? It's not only inhumane, it is long term costly in recruiting and training.
Not to mention that their exhaustion and chronic pain leads them to make mistakes, which translates into more running around for the techs, with attendant snowball effect.