Op-Ed: Our Profit-Centered Private Medical Industry Is Cutting Back on Hospital Care

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/op-ed-hidden-erosion-safe-hospital-care

With all the clamor over the website woes of the rollout of the Affordable Care Act finally ebbing, let's hope the media can begin to notice some changes in the delivery of health care that will have more far-reaching consequences for health care quality and access long after the sign-up problems are a distant memory.

Despite the hysteria on the right, some components of the ACA are clearly welcome, especially the Medicaid expansion in those states where the governors are not standing with pitchforks in the door to block health coverage for the working poor.

Yet there's plenty of trouble ahead, most evident with the cost shifting from insurers and providers to workers and families.

Many are now aware that the insurance plans offered through the exchanges are chock full of added out-of-pocket costs.

[canoeist52]

1. I saw this when my Mom was hospitalized recently.

"Technology, promoted as both a way to reduce medical errors and cut costs (even as hospitals spend literally trillions of dollars on high tech systems) are too often used to displace, not enhance professional skill and routinize care.

One example is the rapid proliferation of electronic health records systems. While paper records and charting certainly have limitations, RNs and other caregivers have documented a number of problems with electronic health records systems and the promise of savings are inflated."

The nurses and aides spend so much time on computers in the hall that patients have less first hand observation. If I wasn't there to advocate for her, she would have suffered silently.

[HereSince1628]

4. During my last physical exam the MD spent more time looking at her monitor than me.

It was very clear that the computer record was a more important focus than her observation of my anatomy and physiology.

I can't wait for the day when the lab kit comes by courier so we can collect the data on body fluids and gases and send the data to the clinic by email.

It'll sure save a lot of time looking for parking and warming waiting room chairs.

[jsr]

6. It's making this woman very rich:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2013/05/15/a-chat-with-epic-systems-ceo-judy-faulkner/

An Interview With The Most Powerful Woman In Health Care

Judy Faulkner might not be a household name yet, but in the health care industry, she’s simply known as Judy. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Epic Systems, a privately-held $1.5 billion (2012 revenue) company that sells electronic health records—a position that makes her one of the few self-made women on the Forbes billionaires list. Her customers are top medical centers, such as Cleveland Clinic, Geisinger Health System, and Johns Hopkins. She wields enormous influence. Almost half of the U.S. population will have its medical information stored in Epic digital records when hospitals finish installing them.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2012/04/18/epic-systems-tough-billionaire/

Epic Systems' Tough Billionaire

Forbes estimates her net worth at $1.7 billion. She has amassed her wealth by carefully choosing her customers, and eschewing the sales pitch in a community distrustful of salesmen—1% of its 5,200 employees are in sales and marketing. It has exactly five senior salespeople, and no one is paid a commission.

At an internal presentation, marketing folks once flashed a PowerPoint in jest that said “Marketing Sucks…Epic Systems.” At the beginning of each year, Faulkner commands her tiny salesforce to select customers based on whether they are fit to work with Epic—making it a privilege. “They don’t need salespeople, customers come to them; they’re like kids showing up at the door asking for Oreo cookies,” says Leo Carpio, a health IT analyst at Caris & Co. At rival Cerner, sales and marketing make up 4% of total expenses.

In the process, Epic has become something of a status symbol. Its list of well-heeled clients is made up of the upper echelons of health care: Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and almost the entire University of California system are among its 260 customers. Faulkner is also the only head of a company to sit on a government-appointed policy committee that makes recommendations on standards for the exchange of patient information.

[marmar]

2. k/r

[Romulox]

3. Mandatory, for-profit health insurance is the solution! Problem solved. nt

[riverwalker]

5. agree

as an old crabby nurse, I can compare the paper system and the computer system. For example, to chart a saline flush it use to be: open chart, write my initial, done in 2 seconds. Now with EPIC, I have to : open program, scan patient band, scan saline, computer asks for 10 additional clicks and typing reason why I am giving 5ml, and not the scanned 10 ml, finally, the dose is charted, taking about one minute. Multiply this a thousand times a day and this is why we are nursing the darn computers instead of the patient.