Medicare's New Rules

[Guest guest]

Before everyone starts debating the pros & cons of the new rules, it

might be helpful to read the article (below).

There are only 8 reasons (just 8!)for non payment. Infections from - -

- - " catheter-associated urinary tract infections, vascular

catheter-associated infections, mediastinitis after coronary artery

bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and five other medical errors unrelated

to infections (bed sores, objects left in patients bodies, blood

incompatibility, air embolism, and falls). Thats the full and complete

list for Medicare/Medicaid non-payment!

These 8 things have nothing to do with the reason a patient is

admitted to the hospital. So high risk or not, it doesn't matter.

These 8 are simply user error. Medicare is just saying you broke it,

you pay for it. Please read this article.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story & STORY=/www/sto\

ry/08-08-2007/0004641855 & EDATE=WED+Aug+08+2007,+10:46+AM

Barb

[Guest guest]

>

> These 8 things have nothing to do with the reason a patient is

> admitted to the hospital. So high risk or not, it doesn't matter.

> These 8 are simply user error. Medicare is just saying you broke it,

> you pay for it.

---------------------------------

I agree with Barb on this. When I saw the article in our newspaper a

few days ago, I was delighted!!!

By and large, these happen because of inattentive medical care,

whether by nurses, techs, or doctors. Every single patient I know who

has fallen in the hospital, fell ONLY after trying desperately for an

hour or longer to get a nurse to help them to the bathroom. These

have, in every case, been patients who had no family member there to

help them or to light a fire under the nursing staff when necessary.

The same holds true for patients with bedsores. No family watching

over the patient to look out for their well-being. I know of one

elderly woman who was found (by her pastor's wife), after several

weeks in the hospital, to have bedsores the size of a small orange.

The drs. were aghast, the nursing staff was embarassed. By that time

major infections had begun and the poor woman died of sepsis. This

woman had no family to look out for her. She was a very mild, gentle

soul, and so she got lost in the rush of a busy hospital.

Now, don't get me wrong. I strongly feel that nurses are the backbone

of the hospital. But they can do only so much when their hands are

tied by a greedy board of directors. I've often decried our local

hospital which spent a small fortune installing glass elevators, a

4-story high atrium filled with lush exotic trees and shrubs, a

fancier lobby and business office and new food outlets (Subway, Chick

Filet, pizza, etc.) so that the hospital LOOKS magnificent, impressive

and prosperous. Meanwhile, the nurse to patient ratio is 1:13 ...

outrageous by any standard. There is a shortage of double IV poles,

wheelchairs, and other equipment, but because it doesn't look pretty,

it's bottom priority. I don't think there's a nurse alive who can

possibly give quality care to 13 patients (on a surgical floor, no

less) on a steady basis, week after week, month after month, year

after year. Add to that the 12-hour shifts, massive paperwork, and

the stress of dealing with scared, sometimes angry, patients, and

belligerant families, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Add in a

few nurses who really don't have any passion or heart for what they're

doing, and you start wondering why we don't see more deaths and

disasters in hospitals!

Bottom line -- the current medical care is in crisis mode and

something's got to give!!! Something's got to be changed!!! And I

think Medicare is taking a tentative baby step in that direction.

(Yeah, I know, it surprised the heck out of me, too!!)

Regards,

Carolyn B. in SC