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Ten Things Your Hospital Won't Tell You
Posted by Pile
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| Among other things, they seem to have real issues publicly admitting mistakes, many aren't computerized and this creates some serious health-related snafus. There's a significant chance you may leave sicker than when you came in, or that you may think your insurance covers something but then find out certain processes are not. Did you know that everything is negotiable on your hospital bill? These are just a few of the very interesting tidbits you probably need to know. |
1. "Oops, wrong kidney."
2. "You may leave sicker than when you came in."
3. "Good luck finding the person in charge."
4. "Everything is negotiable, even your hospital bill."
5. "Yes, we take your insurance — but we're not sure about the anesthesiologist."
6. "Sometimes we bill you twice."
7. "All hospitals are not created equal."
8. "Most ERs are in need of some urgent care themselves."
9. "Avoid hospitals in July like the plague."
10. "Sometimes we don't keep our mouths zipped."
How do you tell a good hospital from a bad one? For one thing, nurses. When it comes to their own families, medical workers favor institutions that attract nurses. But they're harder to find as the country's nursing shortage intensifies — by 2020, 44 states could be facing a serious deficit. Low nurse staffing directly affected patient outcomes, resulting in more problems such as urinary tract infections, shock and gastrointestinal bleeding, according to a 2001 study by Harvard and Vanderbilt University professors.
If you can, stay out of the hospital during the summer — especially July. That's the month when medical students become interns, interns become residents, and residents become fellows and full-fledged doctors. In other words, a good portion of the staff at any given teaching hospital are new on the job.
Summer hospital horror stories aren't just medical lore: The adjusted mortality rate rises 4% in July and August for the average major teaching hospital, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. That means eight to 14 more deaths occur at major teaching hospitals than would normally without the turnover.
Another scheduling tip: Try to book surgeries first thing in the morning, and preferably early in the week, when doctors are at their best and before schedules get backed up.
Crack the code of medical bills and you may find a few surprises: charges for services you never received, or for routine items such as gowns and gloves that should not be billed separately. Clerical errors are often the reason for mistakes; one transposed number in a billing code can result in a charge for placing a catheter in an artery versus a vein — a difference of more than $3,900, Stull says. |
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