RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

Perusing the abyssal of medial bogs this morning I came across yet another winning accolade for healthcare that involves a young man [17 year old Nick Colombo] who lives in the Los Angeles area that is fighting a battle with metastatic cancer. His insurance provider Pacific Care had initially denied his claim for advanced radiation treatment it appears due to the cost of the therapy – some $100,000.00. Family and friends were predictably outraged and disappointed.

Periodically the news enlightens us with not so glamorous stories of individuals seeking medical care outside the borders of the United States (U.S.). These reports are usually about everyday people seeking cosmetic surgery, dental care, or some other medical treatment that they are unable to access in the U.S., usually due to the associated costs or their insurance status.

Ambulatory healthcare utilization continues to rise. Physician office, emergency department, and outpatient clinic visits are all increasing. Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics show that there were 1.2 billion patient visits to primary care provider (PCP) offices, hospital outpatient clinics, and emergency departments (ED) in 2005 (a rate of 4 visits per person annually). Visit rates per population have all increased over the past decade and continue to do so.

Bad habits may get your fired. Over the last several months media sources have reported stories about companies that have targeted employees with bad habits. These so called targeted employees have found themselves in the cross hairs of company managers for termination. Termination solely based on “bad habits. Smoking is the favorite vice that has some companies up in arms. In an attempt to mitigate health benefit costs – at least the company’s out of pocket expenses – workers are losing their jobs because of their personal habits.

Professional fees, physicians charge them, respiratory therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and a host of other disciplines in medicine charge for their services above the basic costs associated with being in a hospital. Departmental charges may also be present on a hospital bill – lab, emergency department, x-ray etc. The charge for nursing gets rolled up in the room rate. Why hasn’t nursing promoted itself and made advances to be able to bill for their own time and services?

Newspapers, professional journals, politicians, and bloggers everywhere are expending a vast amount of time and energy these days speaking and writing about the rising cost of healthcare. Hospitals are developing new strategies to entice patients to their facilities with transparency data, boasting low infection and complication rates.

From the New York Times comes a short snippet covering the growing costs associated with healthcare on a global scale. Well established national healthcare systems in other parts of the world are also feeling the pinch of providing healthcare to the point that employers have to supplement the costs out of their own pockets.