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Coronavirus Epidemic, Part 2

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  • Mowingmaniac 24/7

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    Certainly, wear a mask in yer own home.

    And doctors, they should all be relied upon, if you're dumb enough toi believe that...just ask 'Da Fooch'...
     

    benenglish

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    Each specialist will bill you for every day they see you.
    No, they don't, depending on the definition of "see you." My sister has been in hospitals for months at a time. We have extensive experience reading hospital bills.

    If a specialist "sees you", that should mean they stop and talk about their specialty and how you're doing. It doesn't. In practice, it means they stepped into your room in the dead of night when everyone was asleep, stepped right out, and billed you for $300.

    I have literally seen specialists put one foot into my sisters room at sometime around midnight, start to turn to leave, see me in the room, and pull themselves up short. They'll then make a show of walking over, looking at her sleeping, reading some numbers off a chart or machine, and only then walking away. They were never going to do anything for her other than hit up her insurance company for another $200-$300 for the 10 seconds they spent in her room.
    you would have the professional charges from the Hospitalist who sees you for every day you are in the hospital.
    F**k Hospitalists.
    F**k Hospitalists.
    F**k Hospitalists.

    The last time sis was in the hospital her stay was extended by more than a week longer than needed. The entire extra time the Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team Leader tag-teamed each other recommending an additional cardiac procedure that would require opening her chest. Her cardiologist had told her, many times in the past, that she's not up to recovering from another one of those. Yet they came at her again and again, every day, trying to get her to sign off on another extremely expensive procedure.

    Moreover, they lied and lied and lied. Her cardiologist has admitting privileges in that hospital, did rounds there every night, and his office was next door. Both her Hospitalist and her Cardiac Team leader repeatedly told her that they had called and left messages for the cardiologist but apparently he didn't care enough to get back in touch with them.

    The Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team leader insisted she make a decision without input from her cardiologist. They had a final tense and loud confrontation where she said she would agree to the procedure if and only if her cardiologist stood in her room and told her it was a good idea. Period.

    That was it. They knew they couldn't squeeze any more from her. They discharged her the next day. She was supposedly on death's door and could never survive without the procedure they were trying to sell her but as soon as they realized they could make no more money off her, they were perfectly willing to toss her out the door. This was a week after telling her that she was two weeks to a month from dying.

    She immediately went to her cardiologist and presented him with all the records. He took a few days to get more records from the hospital. At a follow-up appointment, he gave his opinion. First, the hospital had never contacted his office; they were liars, period. Second, the need for the procedure was dubious; it would probably help some but not enough to take any risks. Third and finally, she was far too weak to recover from having someone chop through her sternum again.

    I'll repeat it as many times as it takes for people to get the message. F**k Hospitalists. The function of a Hospitalist is to put an impenetrable wall between a patient and the doctors they know and trust. They will lie their asses off to accomplish that goal.

    F**k Hospitalists with a barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat.
     

    gdr_11

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    Doctor who works for local healthcare system told me that they are rewarded or penalized financially each month based on how many additional tests or procedures they get patients to agree on over and above what is required for normal treatment of the condition being addressed.

    Bottom line is that doctors are expected to upsell and, if they don’t, it costs them money. If they do, they make more but end up with negative reviews from patients on the various medical review sites.

    I don’t blame the doctors because I know its the financial end of the carrot and the stick being used by the healthcare giants.
     

    Hoji

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    I believe a physician should be paid for addressing the issue I’m there for, not tacking on CPT codes for shits and giggles.

    If I come in with a broken arm, I don’t expect tobacco cessation counseling 3m-10m, especially if I’m not a tobacco user. If that charge showed up, I’d have a conversation with my insurer about fraudulent charges and/or services.

    Q: of the things you do today, how much of it would change if you were solely on a direct pay model?
    All of these questionnaires that are completed are sold to insurance companies.
     

    innominate

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    No, they don't, depending on the definition of "see you." My sister has been in hospitals for months at a time. We have extensive experience reading hospital bills.

    If a specialist "sees you", that should mean they stop and talk about their specialty and how you're doing. It doesn't. In practice, it means they stepped into your room in the dead of night when everyone was asleep, stepped right out, and billed you for $300.

    I have literally seen specialists put one foot into my sisters room at sometime around midnight, start to turn to leave, see me in the room, and pull themselves up short. They'll then make a show of walking over, looking at her sleeping, reading some numbers off a chart or machine, and only then walking away. They were never going to do anything for her other than hit up her insurance company for another $200-$300 for the 10 seconds they spent in her room.

    F**k Hospitalists.
    F**k Hospitalists.
    F**k Hospitalists.

    The last time sis was in the hospital her stay was extended by more than a week longer than needed. The entire extra time the Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team Leader tag-teamed each other recommending an additional cardiac procedure that would require opening her chest. Her cardiologist had told her, many times in the past, that she's not up to recovering from another one of those. Yet they came at her again and again, every day, trying to get her to sign off on another extremely expensive procedure.

    Moreover, they lied and lied and lied. Her cardiologist has admitting privileges in that hospital, did rounds there every night, and his office was next door. Both her Hospitalist and her Cardiac Team leader repeatedly told her that they had called and left messages for the cardiologist but apparently he didn't care enough to get back in touch with them.

    The Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team leader insisted she make a decision without input from her cardiologist. They had a final tense and loud confrontation where she said she would agree to the procedure if and only if her cardiologist stood in her room and told her it was a good idea. Period.

    That was it. They knew they couldn't squeeze any more from her. They discharged her the next day. She was supposedly on death's door and could never survive without the procedure they were trying to sell her but as soon as they realized they could make no more money off her, they were perfectly willing to toss her out the door. This was a week after telling her that she was two weeks to a month from dying.

    She immediately went to her cardiologist and presented him with all the records. He took a few days to get more records from the hospital. At a follow-up appointment, he gave his opinion. First, the hospital had never contacted his office; they were liars, period. Second, the need for the procedure was dubious; it would probably help some but not enough to take any risks. Third and finally, she was far too weak to recover from having someone chop through her sternum again.

    I'll repeat it as many times as it takes for people to get the message. F**k Hospitalists. The function of a Hospitalist is to put an impenetrable wall between a patient and the doctors they know and trust. They will lie their asses off to accomplish that goal.

    F**k Hospitalists with a barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat.
    Sorry y'all had to go thru that. Like almost everything it mirrors society/ people. There are good and bad. I can't speak for our entire system but our hospitalist manages the pts daily needs. Our specialists do see the pt daily, during waking hours, only as long as they are in need of them. They sign off once they are no longer needed. We aren't perfect. The system isn't perfect but I think we are one of the better ones. I let our heart failure specialists see my dad at the end.
     

    Hoji

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    No, they don't, depending on the definition of "see you." My sister has been in hospitals for months at a time. We have extensive experience reading hospital bills.

    If a specialist "sees you", that should mean they stop and talk about their specialty and how you're doing. It doesn't. In practice, it means they stepped into your room in the dead of night when everyone was asleep, stepped right out, and billed you for $300.

    I have literally seen specialists put one foot into my sisters room at sometime around midnight, start to turn to leave, see me in the room, and pull themselves up short. They'll then make a show of walking over, looking at her sleeping, reading some numbers off a chart or machine, and only then walking away. They were never going to do anything for her other than hit up her insurance company for another $200-$300 for the 10 seconds they spent in her room.

    F**k Hospitalists.
    F**k Hospitalists.
    F**k Hospitalists.

    The last time sis was in the hospital her stay was extended by more than a week longer than needed. The entire extra time the Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team Leader tag-teamed each other recommending an additional cardiac procedure that would require opening her chest. Her cardiologist had told her, many times in the past, that she's not up to recovering from another one of those. Yet they came at her again and again, every day, trying to get her to sign off on another extremely expensive procedure.

    Moreover, they lied and lied and lied. Her cardiologist has admitting privileges in that hospital, did rounds there every night, and his office was next door. Both her Hospitalist and her Cardiac Team leader repeatedly told her that they had called and left messages for the cardiologist but apparently he didn't care enough to get back in touch with them.

    The Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team leader insisted she make a decision without input from her cardiologist. They had a final tense and loud confrontation where she said she would agree to the procedure if and only if her cardiologist stood in her room and told her it was a good idea. Period.

    That was it. They knew they couldn't squeeze any more from her. They discharged her the next day. She was supposedly on death's door and could never survive without the procedure they were trying to sell her but as soon as they realized they could make no more money off her, they were perfectly willing to toss her out the door. This was a week after telling her that she was two weeks to a month from dying.

    She immediately went to her cardiologist and presented him with all the records. He took a few days to get more records from the hospital. At a follow-up appointment, he gave his opinion. First, the hospital had never contacted his office; they were liars, period. Second, the need for the procedure was dubious; it would probably help some but not enough to take any risks. Third and finally, she was far too weak to recover from having someone chop through her sternum again.

    I'll repeat it as many times as it takes for people to get the message. F**k Hospitalists. The function of a Hospitalist is to put an impenetrable wall between a patient and the doctors they know and trust. They will lie their asses off to accomplish that goal.

    F**k Hospitalists with a barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat.
    For those of you here that are new, in the 12 years I have been here I have never seen Ben use any more than the mildest of profanity, to see a battery of “F” bombs fly from his keyboard would be a very good indication the he fucking hates Hospitalists with a demonic passion.;)
     

    RoadRunner

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    Here
    8dczy6e3su951.jpg
     

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    benenglish

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    For those of you here that are new
    It struck a nerve.

    I bust my butt to take care of my disabled sister. That's the core purpose of my life.

    What really makes me hate them and the business model they support, something I didn't say in that post, was that the Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team Leader never confronted and pressured my sister in front of me. I saw the Hospitalist several times and the Cardiac Team Leader at least a couple. They discussed the procedure they were selling in front of me just once when they tried to get me to help them. It didn't work; when a salesman says "You must buy right now, without thinking about it! If you don't, bad things will happen!" I reflexively withdraw. As soon as they realized I wasn't on their side, they changed tactics. They basically wrapped things up fast and skedaddled whenever I was on scene.

    Sis put it together for me. On several occasions, it was obvious they waited for me to leave and then pounced on her in her weakened state. They literally conspired to separate a patient from the patients on-scene advocate. That's detestable.

    I always thought there was a certain goodness at the heart of medical care. I know there's greed and ego, too, but I expect doctors to want to try to heal patients. In this case, though, as insane as it sounds, they were literally trying to sell her something she didn't need, something that could (probably would) kill her. They were a pack of sleazy used car salesmen.

    I will never have nor allow my sister to have any in-patient treatment at Houston Methodist again. Ever.
     

    Axxe55

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    Ben hit the nail on the head with that last post! We just went through very similar with my wife just two years ago. She was diagnosed with colon cancer and had a partially obstructed colon. She was already scheduled for surgery for the obstructed colon as that was a direct threat to her health, and if it ruptured, would have killed her ten time faster than the cancer.

    Four days before she had emergency surgery for the colon, she got to feeling really bad on a Saturday afternoon. We went to the ER. Couple of hours later, they dismissed her saying she was just constipated. Five more visits to the ER, up to the Tuesday night when she was puking and shitting blood. At least Tuesday night, that ER doctor had enough sense to call her surgical doctor in Dallas to find out some background and consult on what to do for her. This was at about almost midnight. By about 4:30 Wednesday morning, she was being wheeled into the operating room for surgery. about two weeks earlier than planned. Her colon almost ruptured. If it had, she would have been dead in about 24 to 48 hours from infection. But our local hospital kept trying to treat her for constipation, even though we both were trying to tell them the background of what was going on with her internals. They either didn't care, or were listening.

    Weeks later, when I got the ER billings, I called them up. I explained they would never get one thin dime for their shoddy medical work for those ER visits, and that they should count themselves lucky she was still alive and that I wasn't suing every last one of them for malpractice!

    Trust me, this wasn't an isolated incidence either. I have plenty of my own horror stories involving myself and the medical profession. A few of them damn near killed me as result of shoddy medical procedures. I have very little faith and trust in doctors, or the medical profession in large.

    I'll echo Ben's comments. F**K Hospitals! And F**K Doctors!

    Rant off before my blood pressure kills me!
     

    popsgarland

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    It struck a nerve.

    I bust my butt to take care of my disabled sister. That the core purpose of my life.

    What really makes me hate them and the business model they support, something I didn't say in that post, was that the Hospitalist and the Cardiac Team Leader never confronted and pressured my sister in front of me. I saw the Hospitalist several times and the Cardiac Team Leader at least a couple. They discussed the procedure they were selling in front of me just once when they tried to get me to help them. It didn't work; when a salesman says "You must buy right now, without thinking about it! If you don't, bad things will happen!" I reflexively withdraw. As soon as they realized I wasn't on their side, they changed tactics. They basically wrapped things up fast and skedaddled whenever I was on scene.

    Sis put it together for me. On several occasions, it was obvious they waited for me to leave and then pounced on her in her weakened state. They literally conspired to separate a patient from the patients on-scene advocate. That's detestable.

    I always thought there was a certain goodness at the heart of medical care. I know there's greed and ego, too, but I expect doctors to want to try to heal patients. In this case, though, as insane as it sounds, they were literally trying to sell her something she didn't need, something that could (probably would) kill her. They were a pack of sleazy used car salesmen.

    I will never have nor allow my sister to have any in-patient treatment at Houston Methodist again. Ever.

    Ben,
    I've never been in you position and hope I never have to be.
    After reading your posts it takes one hell of man to put his personal life on for everyone to see. I know you didn't do this for sympathy but out of anger for, most of, the people in the medical profession that cares more for the money than the health and safety of their patients. I also, as many here do, agree with you on how most patients are treated. I know your sister is thankful for your help and standing by her with your support .

    Again, I don't know you personally, but your one hell of man.
     

    Coop45

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    Doctors are educated and paid very well by big pharma. They follow the script ( pun intended).
    There are a few who think for themselves if you are fotunate enough to find one.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    If you let them they will give all kinds of crap. Check out the side effects of what you are taking and be aware.
     

    Coop45

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    About 20 years ago, I tore the plantar fascia on the bottom of my foot while at work, away from home, in a hotel. There was a doctor in the building next to the hotel. This was a big, long project and several of our people had gotten sick and gone to that doctor. I hobbled over, thinking that he could, at minimum, advise me what to do next since I was in a lot of pain.

    The receptionist - "I don't think we treat stuff like that. He'll probably just refer you elsewhere."
    Me - "Ok, if a referral is all he can do, fine. But I want to hear that from him."

    The receptionist hands me the sign-in forms and I fill them out. I hand them to another person who says "You're the one here for the referral, right?" I reply with a simple "No." Eventually, I'm called to the back.

    The intake nurse - "So you're here to get a referral?"
    Me - "No, my insurance doesn't require referrals. If that's all he can do, I'll take it but I want to see a doctor."
    The doctor - "So, you're here for a referral?"
    Me - "No, I'm here because I hurt my foot."

    The doctor stares back and forth between me and the paperwork for a full minute. He then gives me a 5 minute lecture about the sexual transmission of disease, reading every word off a script. Then he hands me a slip of paper, that had been prepared beforehand and that he brought in the room with him, with the name of a doctor at a nearby hospital. He didn't even ask me to take off my shoes.

    Read that over and let it sink in. I got diagnosed by the receptionist. She wrote down that I needed a referral and everyone else in the work process chain in that office completely ignored everything I said. I was going to get a referral and nothing else. Period. The lecture was just to pad out the time with something they could code.

    Finally, the last insult -
    The cashier - "Your co-pay is $20."
    Me - "Uh, no. This was an accidental injury. My insurance pays 100% on injuries and there's no co-pay."
    Cashier - "That's a nice stunt to try to get out of the $20 but it won't work. There's no injury on this chart. That'll be $20."

    I had just been called a liar to my face. I was on the verge of throwing furniture but my rational brain took over. I gave her a credit card. Getting into a shouting match (not to mention the physical violence I desperately wanted to unleash) while on duty would risk my job and I wasn't willing to do that. I then sat down right in front of her and called the number on the back of the card to report a fraudulent charge. She overheard and looked at me funny but didn't do anything about it.

    tl;dr - Healthcare can be drowned by healthcare processes. Don't trust anyone in the healthcare system because you don't know if you're talking to a real person or just an automaton checking off boxes so that the computerized records system will allow them to move on to the next form.
    At least you aren't in prison, but throwing stuff can be fun.
     

    Axxe55

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    Ben,
    I've never been in you position and hope I never have to be.
    After reading your posts it takes one hell of man to put his personal life on for everyone to see. I know you didn't do this for sympathy but out of anger for, most of, the people in the medical profession that cares more for the money than the health and safety of their patients. I also, as many here do, agree with you on how most patients are treated. I know your sister is thankful for your help and standing by her with your support .

    Again, I don't know you personally, but your one hell of man.


    I think Ben also did it as warning of what misdeeds the medical profession can and will do, in trying to make money.

    I only posted in reply to Ben's post, to show that his interactions, are not an isolated incidence. That it happened fairly recently.

    Huge respect to Ben for those posts.
     

    F350-6

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    If Ben and Axxe think they had it bad, imagine how things are now with the coronavirus thing. My dad's currently in a rehab facility with no visitors allowed. The hospital allowed 1 per day, which was my mom, and if she left, she couldn't return until 12:01 the next day.

    My dad fell, went to the ER for xrays to make sure nothing was broken. Got sent home all clear and fell again that day. Was then told he was too weak to move and needed to go to rehab. Fell again at rehab. Rehab said he needed to be moved to a long term care facility. I went to see my mother and we called the director. I asked how someone who was walking around fine 2 days ago suddenly needed rehab and now a long term facility. The more questions I asked, the less comfortable they got. The next day, they "got his bloodwork back" and determined his sodium was extremely low, so they treated that. Then the potassium got low, so they treated that. Then he wasn't improving so they wanted to place him on palliative care.

    I got involved again and asked was he dying from low sodium or low potassium? And asked if they had ever thought of trying to determine what was causing his imbalances instead of just treating whatever symptoms showed up.

    Now suddenly he has a hormone imbalace that's causing his bloodwork issues and they're going to treat that. They're recommending another facility to transfer him to.

    Hopefully they don't list him as a coronavirus fatality soon. (not sure he even has to die to make that list the way things have been going). To be continued....
     

    Coop45

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    If Ben and Axxe think they had it bad, imagine how things are now with the coronavirus thing. My dad's currently in a rehab facility with no visitors allowed. The hospital allowed 1 per day, which was my mom, and if she left, she couldn't return until 12:01 the next day.

    My dad fell, went to the ER for xrays to make sure nothing was broken. Got sent home all clear and fell again that day. Was then told he was too weak to move and needed to go to rehab. Fell again at rehab. Rehab said he needed to be moved to a long term care facility. I went to see my mother and we called the director. I asked how someone who was walking around fine 2 days ago suddenly needed rehab and now a long term facility. The more questions I asked, the less comfortable they got. The next day, they "got his bloodwork back" and determined his sodium was extremely low, so they treated that. Then the potassium got low, so they treated that. Then he wasn't improving so they wanted to place him on palliative care.

    I got involved again and asked was he dying from low sodium or low potassium? And asked if they had ever thought of trying to determine what was causing his imbalances instead of just treating whatever symptoms showed up.

    Now suddenly he has a hormone imbalace that's causing his bloodwork issues and they're going to treat that. They're recommending another facility to transfer him to.

    Hopefully they don't list him as a coronavirus fatality soon. (not sure he even has to die to make that list the way things have been going). To be continued....
    Can't he just go home and get away from those MF's?
     
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