Better care, pay less: Some communities find a way

[formercia]

* By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer
* On Monday September 7, 2009, 10:04 am EDT



WASHINGTON (AP) -- If you pay the mechanic $1,000 to fix your transmission and it breaks again next week, the garage should find and fix the problem for free. So if you get an infection following open-heart surgery because the doctor forgot an antibiotic, why are you charged extra to clear up the wound?

At Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, pay a flat fee for bypass surgery and you'll get essentially a 90-day warranty on your heart fix. Complications? The hospital has to eat the cost. It gambled that following a checklist of best practices would help patients recover faster and cost less -- and so far, it's winning the bet.

It's a radically different approach to a health care system that even many doctors agree rewards volume of care over quality. Yet around the country are hospitals and health systems like Geisinger that President Barack Obama calls "islands of excellence," places quietly trying innovative changes to improve patient care at below-average prices.

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Better-care-pay-less-Some-apf-811662534.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

[madrchsod]

1. it cost me around 4000 for a hospital fuck-up

and it will cost me at least another 5 to fix their fuck up. i have medical insurance

[imdjh]

2. It might help if there was some obvious relationship between service and cost.

What no one seems to be able to explain to be is how a doctor can do something in his office that takes 15 minutes of his time, requires no expensive equipment, and for which he will charge between $500 and $1500. When did a medical degree become a license to extort?

[Frustratedlady]

3. Interesting article. Our local hospital also strives to save patient cost and

duplicate care through better communication between physicians. If I have had a blood test recently, I always ask other physicians if they received a copy of the report. It saves my time and theirs.

Obama said he wanted to take the best of ideas and implement those ideas nationwide. What is wrong with that? If it works, use it...don't fight it.

If I were Obama, I'd throw up my hands and say to hell with it. I can't imagine he can even muster up a smile these days.

Ignorant jerks.