The empowered patient

[Gabes-Apg]

sound familar.......


http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health ... 1_CV_N.htm

says doctors' offices are often chaotic and disorganized, so patients need to stay on top of their care before and after testing. And they should double-check questionable lab reports.

[tex]

How about that? Maybe we're not just being paranoid after all. It's good to see that we're not the only PITAs around.

Did you notice that in the article, it was the gastroenterologist who seemed to object the most, about patients who ask questions.

Tex

[Gloria]

Other specialties witness overtesting and overspending, too.

"Newer, sensitive imaging tests will pick up nodules and cysts that result in a huge work-up, and then it ends up being benign," says Brett Fenster, an assistant professor of medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver.

"The time that patients are worried about having the 'big C'; the expenses incurred for further testing..."

This is what I encounter almost every time I have a mammogram. They always want a followup because the image picked up tiny cysts. My gynecologist sent me a certified letter to remind me to get one in May. I still haven't gone because I don't want to deal with the additional testing, which seems to be unnecessary. I've been in the waiting room with several other women having the same followup. I've gotten the feeling that the hospital is just trying to make more money off the additional tests.

Gloria

[tex]

I've gotten the feeling that the hospital is just trying to make more money off the additional tests.

There is absolutely no question that hospitals are businesses first and foremost, and everything else falls in line farther down the list. Consider this:

One way for a hospital to increase revenue, improve the delivery of health care, and boost patient satisfaction is to develop new services as an adjunct to its emergency department. New service lines that treat emergency department patients quickly and efficiently and eliminate negative experiences patients often associate with emergency department visits can offer significant benefits to a hospital as well as its patients.

A hospital's emergency department directly accounts for only 3 percent to 6 percent of total hospital revenue. Indirectly, however, the emergency department usually is responsible for 40 percent to 50 percent of hospital revenue since it generates 30 percent to 40 percent of hospital admissions and 20 percent to 30 percent of laboratory and radiology procedures.(a) Exhibit 1 illustrates direct and indirect patient revenue sources typically attributable to an emergency department.

Depending on payer mix, one additional emergency department admission per day could total $1.75 million in additional annual gross revenue for a hospital.

The red emphasis is mine, of course. That quote is from this site:

http://www.allbusiness.com/health-care- ... 386-1.html

This is related to much more than simply tests, of course, and I'm not trying to say that all doctors at hospitals order unnecessary tests, but obviously, the incentive is there.

Tex