Health Care’s Big Money Wasters; My Commentary

There was a story that came out on CNN Money titled Health Care’s Big Money Wasters. It talked about the six top ways that costs are driven up, to the tune of $1.2 trillion dollars a year. I’m going to name them, then comment on them, and for once, they’re fairly true.

1. Too Many Tests – Why do doctors request so many tests? One of two reasons; worry about malpractice, or trying to make more money. Either way, it’s costing us a lot of money. President Obama addressed this with the AMA earlier this year; he also acknowledged physician fear of malpractice, which no one wants to cap. Folks, we can’t have it both ways, and on this point, the Conservatives have it right.

2. Annoying Claim Forms – New York state put through a law years ago that stated all bills that went out to patients had to follow a certain format. That’s worked well; now if someone would only institute a way to send all claims out the same way.

These days, a bunch of claims go out electronically; now if insurance companies would only pay those claims. Anyway, the rest have to go out on paper, and that’s when it gets interesting. Medicaid actually has multiple claim forms to send out depending on the type of service you’ve provided. You can’t bill compensation carriers electornically in NY as of yet. Same with No Fault claims, and of course each of them has their own form that has to be filled out. There really is a lot of paper work in health care; no wonder mistakes can easily happen.

3. Using The ER As A Clinic – This is the main consequence of not having a health care plan. Every ER in the country has to treat you, whether you can pay for it or not, and it costs way more to do that then going to the doctor. Some people have no choice, though, and that’s an issue. Want a reality check? Even if the health care reform bill passes, this one is going to continue for a long time, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

4. Medical “oops” – Most of the medical errors, in this case, are related to pharmacy problems. Trust me, I’ve seen this one first hand, from the other side. This one isn’t just technology; it’s staffing, and it’s training of all personnel on how to dispense pharmaceuticals. It’s not making an expensive concoction early, then having to dump it because the patient has either been discharged or their status has changed. It’s not charging for pharmaceuticals as a bunch up front because no one’s working on the weekend, then having to catch up and reverse some of them come Monday. But there’s no quick solution to this one.

5. Going Back To The Hospital – This one is tough. Hospitals have to save money by trying to get patients out sooner. Insurance companies want patients out sooner. Rules only allow physicians to dispense so much medication to a patient who’s being discharged. Patients also need to follow discharge instructions (take that medication even if you feel like a million bucks). And Medicare’s rules are that if a patient isn’t getting better, they should be discharged, and most inpatients are Medicare patients.

So, why is Medicare now saying they want to penalize hospitals for discharging patients too soon and possibly having them come back? Once again, the federal government started this mess. Tell you what; raise the rates hospitals are paid for inpatient claims, let doctors be doctors, and this problem goes away.

6. You Forgot To Wash Your Hands – I don’t want anyone thinking hospitals and physicians aren’t clean. What they’ve done in the past, though, is used a lot of those alcohol instant cleaners, which have now been proven to push germs around but not actually kill or get rid of them. These days, any hospital you go in has signs all over the place about washing your hands.

That’s that; well, not quite, as there’s still another trillion to be unaccounted for. To get some of the rest of it,… you’re going to have to read the story.