To add to what Mark said in the previous post about the CHART town hall last Wednesday: some anecdotes.
1. Besides pointing out the gap between the UCMC's charity care and the tax breaks it gets for it (again, that's $48 million), Heather O'Donnell also stated that nobody is currently holding private hospitals responsible for charity care. (That means it's up to us.)
2. According to an ER physician: it is a long-standing myth that the cost of non-emergency care in the ER is great. Setting up and running an ER is very expensive, but the incremental cost of non-emergency care is not that high.
3. A UofC emeritus professor needed to see a cardiologist. He went to the UCMC, found a cardiologist, but was told he would have to wait 3 months for an appointment. But, as it turns out, the UCMC had opened up a branch on the Gold Coast--and the very same cardiologist was working over there. So he went to that clinic on the Gold Coast. No 3 month wait. When he showed up they parked his car for free, the receptionist offered him coffee, it only took him 5 minutes before the nurse came to meet him, and then, after that, just another 5 minutes for the doctor to see him--for a 40 minute visit.
4. One dude had gone to Mitchell Hospital shortly before the town hall meeting. He asked 5 nurses, in passing, if they knew about the event. 4 out of the 5 told him they wouldn't dare to talk about the rally where someone else might hear. Although I didn't write them all down, there were plenty of other stories like this last one, about threats, punishments, and just plain petty forms of manipulation, used by management to get nurses and other workers to mind their own business.
And one last thing I noticed: these issues are bigger than the UCMC itself, and all of them are connected to the brokenness of the health care system in the region and in the nation as a whole--and, sure enough, calls for single payer health care turned out to be big applause lines.
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The ER Physician responding in item 2 is seriously out of touch. I utilized what I thought was an "express care" option through the ER and was charged over $800 to treat a mere sinus infection (in addition to waiting over 6 hours for treatment). I was able to dispute the charges with the hospital and get a reduction, but the physician's group was not receptive at all, and ended up sending me to collections.
ReplyDeleteHi anon,
ReplyDeleteI can't really verify what that doctor said, but I will point out that his comment and yours are compatible: he was talking about the actual cost to the hospital's resources, you're talking about how much you were charged. It would be nice if those two numbers matched up in some way. But hospital bills are largely determined by whatever the dysfunctional health care market will bear. It sounds like your story is a case in point.
Dear Toby,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the quick reply. So... Since the ER's "incremental cost" is low in proving non-emergency care and their charges are obviously quite high, they have quite a profit center going there. You would think they would pass some of the cost savings on to their customers? Especially considering most are low income folks? I just don't see good stewardship of limited healthcare funds and resources coming from this. THANKS for your advocacy! Go get 'em!!!
Regards, Rich (formerly "Anonymous")