Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Friday, February 17th, 2023

Emergency Rooms as Hospitals Look to Cut Costs

Author:     Blake Farmer
Source:     KHN (npr)
Publication Date:     FEBRUARY 13, 2023
 Link: Emergency Rooms as Hospitals Look to Cut Costs
Stephan:  

American healthcare, as this article proves for the thousandth time, is not about wellbeing. Individual physicians and nurses may care about wellbeing, but the system itself cares about only one thing: maximizing profit. And yet so strong is the hold healthcare corporations have on the U.S. Congress, particularly the Republican Party, that year after year, in spite of the horrible social outcome data in this country, nothing happens and we continue to have the worst, but most expensive, healthcare in the developed world.

Nashville, Tennesse hospital emergency room entrance: Credit: KHN – Nashville Public Radio

Pregnant and scared, Natasha Valle went to a Tennova Healthcare hospital in Clarksville, Tennessee, in January 2021 because she was bleeding. She didn’t know much about miscarriage, but this seemed like one.

In the emergency room, she was examined then sent home, she said. She went back when her cramping became excruciating. Then home again. It ultimately took three trips to the ER on three consecutive days, generating three separate bills, before she saw a doctor who looked at her bloodwork and confirmed her fears.

“At the time I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, I need to see a doctor,’” Valle recalled. “But when you think about it, it’s like, ‘Well — dang — why didn’t I see a doctor?’” It’s unclear whether the repeat visits were due to delays in seeing a physician, but the experience worried her. And she’s still paying the bills.

The hospital declined to discuss Valle’s care, citing patient privacy. But 17 months before her three-day ordeal, Tennova had outsourced its emergency rooms to American […]

Read the Full Article

1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Friday, February 17, 2023 at 3:08 pm

    I hate to disagree with you, Stephan, but Physicians and Nurses do care a lot about making more money. I lost my Physician from her practice because she was offered more money to work at the Hospital when UPMC took over the local hospital, and I had to find a new Physician.