November1, 2018 Recent News

Healthcare

Hospitals

Physicians

Healthcare

The BMJ has shown what all have known, the Joint Commission does nothing better than other accrediting organizations.  The other hospitals not accredited by the Joint had the same outcomes as those JC accredited.  This comes after the Wall Street Journal found that problem plagued facilities routinely kept their Joint Commission accreditation.   

In another patient versus hospital problem regarding brain dead, the patient, a nine year old female died after her parents won a Texas court of appeal delay in turning off life support.  The Cook Children's Medical Center made the announcement without any elaboration.  

California Healthline reports that medicine is going to change.  It appears that millennials are not getting their own physicians.  They are a mobile group and so find it more advantageous to see urgent care centers or EDs for care than their own physicians.  They also have no patience to wait sometimes weeks to see a physician for an acute matter.  They can not even wait in a waiting room very well.  This may change as they age and put down roots but who knows.

One probably should not buy stock in Express Scripts.  They will lose about $20 Billion in revenue next year when Anthem drops them as their intermediary.  Anthem sued Express Scripts for overcharging them and wants $15 Billion.  Express Scripts is slated to be purchased by Cigna for $67 Billion.    

Utah is paying its employees to fly to San Diego, cross into Mexico and purchase certain high price meds.  They are also paying for patients to go to Mexico for some surgery.  

Why is it not a surprise that California paid $4 Billion in claims for Medicaid claims because it did not want to follow-up on eligibility discrepancies.  Since the state has been found out it will correct the error if its ways.          Top

Hospitals

Jersey City and Jersey City Medical Center agreed to compromise.  The hospital is paying the city back taxes for two years and agreed to pay money going forward up to 2013.  The hospital had no choice after a ruling in another case that the hospitals were not really not for profit.  The city agreed to drop its legal case but can re-open it in 2023.

New Jersey's University Hospital in Newark was inspected after a death of a premie.  They found major problems with infection control.  The action plan of the hospital had not been implemented.  There were four cases of Acinetobacter baumannii with the one death.  The hospital is to hire immediately a full time Certified Infection Control Practitioner.  

Baylor St. Luke's has hired tow new cardiac surgeons to staff and lead it heart transplant program.  This comes after the hospital lost its Medicare funding two months prior.  They also hired a new transplant program administrator.  Let's hope this improves the transplant program and the culture at the hospital.    

Hopefully CMS will finalize soon the rule to site neutralize payments.  The AHA is pulling out all its money to bribe pols to scuttle this rule.      Top

Physicians

In a study it was reported that 3/4 of physicians have some ties to drug companies.  This can range from the pay to consult to a free lunch or even free pens or as the article states free samples.        Top

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 DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the information presented.