Hospital Compare, A New Website
Hospital Compare is a new website by the department of Health and Human Services. It lets consumers compare 26 quality of care measures in about 4,000 hospitals nation wide.
Patients rated hospital services such as how quickly they were given care and how well the communication was between them and the medical staff. In all there were ten main areas of experiences that patients had.
The purpose of the site is to help consumers make more informed decisions about where to go for care and treatment of certain ailments and illnesses. It is hoped that it will also allow hospitals to see where there strengths and weaknesses are so that they all can offer the best care and experience for their patients.
The site gives a lot of useful information, so if you are faced with a hospital stay, check the site before you are admitted. It will help to answer a lot of questions you may have and possibly relieve some anxiety about how you will be treated and cared for.
Location and Medicare
A study that’s done every two years has concluded that Medicare is paying wildly different amounts depending on where in the United States you live. Some are four times as much as others.
They looked at ill seniors and disabled people and the care and length of hospital stays in their last two years of life. What they found was that doctors seemed to tailor the care they gave with the resources they had available. For example, if a city typically had few beds open, hospital stays where short and many would be treated as outpatients or in the doctors offices. Cities that had many beds open would have sick people staying a lot longer in that hospital.
This might seem logical and maybe not even worth a study. After all, if you don’t have beds for patients they can’t stay in the hospital. That seems to make sense. My question is why are people not staying in the hospitals for the amount of time they need to and no more? Why are people who are in need of hospital care being sent home, while those who could be treated at home are in the hospital?
I’m also wondering if these stats will be ever changing. What I mean is if you have an area where beds are tied up with lengthy stays won’t doctors start shortening those stays to free up beds? In time won’t there be many open beds because of shorter stays, which will in turn encourage doctors to keep patients longer and repeat the cycle?
Sounds like a game I don’t want to play.
Medicare Advantage Under Attack
The Medicare Advantage program allows seniors to choose a private insurance provider to support their Medicare coverage. Often times these are offered for a very low premium or none at all. This is especially helpful for those with a very low income. They are unable to pay the percentage of their medical bills that traditional Medicare does not cover. By using the Medicare Advantage program, they are left with very low co pays and even the benefit of the Medicare Part D prescription plan with a much smaller premium than they would face if taking the Part D portion alone.
For many seniors this is the only available options for their medical care. As we all are aware, senior citizens are living on very little. Most only receive Social Security, which dies not provide well. It is rather upsetting that Congress continues each year to pursue legislation that would reduce the benefits these seniors receive. Last year, they attempted to sneak these cuts into the Children’s Health Insurance Bill (SCHIP). Thankfully, for our senior citizens this was vetoed by the President.
There are many health plans that offer Medicare Advantage coverage. The open enrollment period is in November, and the new coverage takes place at the beginning of the New Year. Many times, though seniors have an option to change their plan throughout the year without a penalty. New enrollments are accepted through the year as well. If you are new to Medicare, or just the Medicare Advantage program, you can join without any penalties at any time during the year.
Medicare Is Like the Titanic
Here in an interesting article, one blogger likened the way that Medicare is being handled to the doomed ship the Titanic. Does he think that it is going down like a sinking ship? Great analogy and he’s not far off.
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