Posted on 09/19/2013 7:39:28 PM PDT by tobyhill
An Ohio clinic that was touted by Obama while he was speaking on health care reform is now blaming ObamaCare after it was forced to cut $330 million from its budget.
Fox 8 reports the Cleveland Clinic, which is the largest employer in Northeast Ohio with about 39,000 workers in the region, announced the cuts to its 2014 budget at a meeting Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the clinic tells Fox News the clinic is being forced to cut back to prepare for increased costs and decreased revenue under the health care reform law. These changes will include offering early retirement to approximately 3,000 employees, reducing operational costs, and then layoffs as needed.
The clinic says its main priority is to continue to provide a high quality of care during the transition, an attribute that led Obama to tout it in 2009 as an example of what hospitals could be under ObamaCare.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The Cleveland Clinic is just as prestigious as the Mayo Clinic, or the Marshfield Clinic here in WI.
Levin was talking about this yesterday, said he had heart problems and went there.
and he does it again ,WOW he has a perfect score
This is one of the country’s premier clinics.
Alas, they could not save my cousin.
They did use state of the art techniques on him.
Let’s see, we have big labor, hospitals, insurance companies, congress critters lackeys, etc. all previous supporters of CommieCare now b!tching and whining about it.
Insurance won’t matter if there is no access.
3,000 more retirees to suckle off of the Obamacare exchange.
Obamacare can hit you in many ways. It can make employees too expensive to keep. It can make insurance too expensive to afford. It can be the clinic that a Medicare patient depended on suddenly closing it's doors. In the Emory situation the staff being reduced come from departments that support seniors with dementia and Alzheimer's. The question still remains. Are the cuts because Medicare is paying less to make the $750 billon in Obamacare cuts? Are the cuts because some treatments aren't going to be allowed under Obamacare? Will we ever find out?
There is now so much gov't driven S! hitting the fan that fixing the blame is beyond society's capabilities.
If you are an average American wage earner with no connections or pull, you can still go to the CC and get the very same quality medical treatment as King Faisal.
My son had a procedure done there and I got a look at the room they did it in. It made the any science fiction spaceship look like a toy.
Hospitals with brains have never supported Obamacare. Why on earth would they? That would be corporate suicide and they knew/know it.
The problem is, hospitals must plan to play either side of the issue. They have no control over which way a vote in congress will go, regardless of those who think “the health care lobby” is all knowing, all powerful, and has all the politicians in their pockets.
So, hospitals have to be prepared to go whichever way the legislation goes. At least the smart ones do. That gives them the appearance of somehow “supporting” Obamacare just because they have to do work to implement it.
I know. For the last several years, my work in a hospital has increasingly involved extensive and laborious work to comply with ever increasing and demanding government regulation.
I will say this, even the liberals I work with keep their mouths largely shut, because they recognize the whole point of Obamacare is to destroy large segments of the industry. To me, it is surprising and even a little shocking to hear people that I know are liberals mutter things about Obamacare and what it is going to do.
When one of us conservatives makes a comment, they cannot defend it, but instead grunt in a kind of muted agreement.
Makes no difference whether one is liberal or conservative in this profession. Your neck and the necks of your patients is on the chopping block.
The whole point of socialized health care is to limit access to healthcare, thereby limiting costs (or so they think...thinking people subscribe to the saying “If you think health care is expensive, just wait until it is free...”)
I work in healthcare, and a couple of years back before Obamacare was passed, I took a look at the first draft that was being proposed. I did what very few people (including the people like Pelosi who advocated, created and passed it) actually did...I obtained the document and actually read parts of it. I wrote this post back in 2009. As you read it, note the tense in which I write...it is the “future” tense. It had not been passed yet. Also, I focused on imaging, because that is the area I work directly in and was what I was interested in. This only addresses two small segments of this massive, behemoth of a bill. But it confirms the point I make, that the entire purpose is to reduce access to service, thereby reducing costs. It is simple: If a hospital receives less money for services performed, they will have to perform fewer of those services or go broke.
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NOTE: DON’T LET THE LEGISLATIVE GOBBLEDY_GOOK SHOWN BELOW SCARE YOU AWAY FROM READING THIS POST: I PUT IT THERE FOR A SPECIFIC REASON)
I was trying to figure out what is going to happen with physician compensation because I heard from a physician that all specialties, brain surgeons and dermatologists, will be paid the same. So, I tried to look through it, and in the process stumbled across how their plan to reduce both payment AND availability of imaging resources (such as CT, MR, etc.)
This is pissing me off, and really, it is beginning to make me burn. Look at how this thing is written. I copied the section below right out of the document. Look further down for my explanation if you are interested.
***************************************
***************************************
SEC. 1147. PAYMENT FOR IMAGING SERVICES.
10 (a) ADJUSTMENT IN PRACTICE EXPENSE TO RE11
FLECT HIGHER PRESUMED UTILIZATION.—Section 1848
12 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w) is amend13
ed—
14 (1) in subsection (b)(4)—
15 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sub16
paragraph (A)’’ and inserting ‘‘this paragraph’’;
17 and
18 (B) by adding at the end the following new
19 subparagraph:
20 ‘‘(C) ADJUSTMENT IN PRACTICE EXPENSE
21 TO REFLECT HIGHER PRESUMED UTILIZA22
TION.—In computing the number of practice
23 expense relative value units under subsection
24 (c)(2)(C)(ii) with respect to advanced diagnostic
25 imaging services (as defined in section
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274
•HR 3200 IH
1 1834(e)(1)(B)), the Secretary shall adjust such
2 number of units so it reflects a 75 percent
3 (rather than 50 percent) presumed rate of utili4
zation of imaging equipment.’’; and
5 (2) in subsection (c)(2)(B)(v)(II), by inserting
6 ‘‘AND OTHER PROVISIONS’’ after ‘‘OPD PAYMENT
7 CAP’’.
8 (b) ADJUSTMENT IN TECHNICAL COMPONENT ‘‘DIS9
COUNT’’ ON SINGLE-SESSION IMAGING TO CONSECUTIVE
10 BODY PARTS.—Section 1848(b)(4) of such Act is further
11 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara12
graph:
13 ‘‘(D) ADJUSTMENT IN TECHNICAL COMPO14
NENT DISCOUNT ON SINGLE-SESSION IMAGING
15 INVOLVING CONSECUTIVE BODY PARTS.—The
16 Secretary shall increase the reduction in ex17
penditures attributable to the multiple proce18
dure payment reduction applicable to the tech19
nical component for imaging under the final
20 rule published by the Secretary in the Federal
21 Register on November 21, 2005 (part 405 of
22 title 42, Code of Federal Regulations) from 25
23 percent to 50 percent.’’.
24 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro25
vided, this section, and the amendments made by this sec-
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275
•HR 3200 IH
1 tion, shall apply to services furnished on or after January
2 1,
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The following two paragraphs below show what the BULL$HIT above boils down to in normal english, and what it actually MEANS. This just steams me.
“SEC. 1147. PAYMENT FOR IMAGING SERVICES.
ADJUSTMENT IN PRACTICE EXPENSE TO REFLECT HIGHER PRESUMED UTILIZATION
In computing the number of practice expense relative value units under subsection the Secretary shall adjust such number of units so it reflects a 75 percent (rather than 50 percent) presumed rate of utilization of imaging equipment.”
(I am no expert on this, but downloading a Powerpoint Presentation, and looking around at various critiques of the way practice expense is calculated, INCREASING the presumed rate of utilization drives DOWN the amount of money you get paid. I am a genius. I assumed that, but figured I better check it out...)
END RESULT: LESS MONEY FOR IMAGING, FEWER SERVICES OFFERED.
“Section 1848
ADJUSTMENT IN TECHNICAL COMPONENT DISCOUNT ON SINGLE-SESSION IMAGING INVOLVING CONSECUTIVE BODY PARTS.
The Secretary shall increase the reduction in expenditures attributable to the multiple procedure payment reduction applicable to the technical component for imaging from 25 percent to 50 percent.”
(What this means is that from now on, if you do a CT of the Abdomen AND a CT of the pelvis without moving the patient, you now get paid 50% less rather than 25% less. This is huge, and just one example of how they are going to cut billions of dollars a year in costs. The scumbags will say with a straight face that they aren’t rationing, but if you don’t get paid for the service, you either don’t do the service, or you go broke)
END RESULT: LESS MONEY FOR IMAGING, FEWER SERVICES OFFERED.
According to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (at this link: http://www.aapsonline.org/ this is an organization that advocates for physicians, not like the AMA which is advocating for liberalism) these sections above up to a reduction of 4.3 billion dollars a year in money to be paid for imaging. If someone interprets that some different way, please let me know...but if you bring in 45 million more people and reduce the money you pay...gee whiz, what is the end result?
Now, I wasn’t born yesterday, and I know why they are doing this, but this is our healthcare we are talking about, and they have deliberately tried to bury as much of it in incomprehensible legalese as they can get it. It made me madder and madder as I tried to go through it.
THEY DON’T WANT ANYONE TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS.
For me, the most effective arguments against socialized medicine are the same arguments used against...socialism
I believe in Free Market Capitalism. Nothing motivates people like money. Money can buy a roof over your head, food for the table, clothes for your back and a vacation in Tahiti if you have enough of it. ;Consequently, the desire for more money can drive a lot of positive behavior in systems that effectively supress the negative behavior that is often manifested by greed.
I have worked in the Health Care Industry since 1985, and I use the term “Health Care Industry” deliberately. When it is frankly referred to by that phrase, people are often offended or horrified. But there is no need to be.
Competition drives costs down, and while there is not competition for health care the same way there is competition for your money that is spent on food, clothes and computers, there is competition at the hospital level. Hospitals have to cut costs by streamlining processes to make them more efficient, providing better pre and post-operative care in order to minimize length-of-stay. Hospitals have to shop for the best deals on pharmaceuticals, contrast agents and other materials such as catheters, needles and other consumable items.
Most importantly, hospitals are forced to stay competitive with salaries in order to attract and keep qualified, motivated top of the line personnel. Hospitals, like many other entities in a capitalistic environment, have found that the worst thing you can do is to allow your pay scales to drop below the market norms. It is a cut-throat business, hospitals stealing employees from each other, jacking up salaries to attract those employees.
If you don’t pay...your competitor will.
Your best people will leave and go to the hospital that is paying well.
Their morale and performance at that institution will go up, yours will go down.
The end result is: patient care will suffer. If you have not managed your health care business appropriately, your patients will receive worse care than your healthy competitor.
Your patients will be subjected to rude, stressed, overworked employees.
Your patients will wait longer for a nurse to visit them in their bed.
Your physicians, nurses and technical staff will work longer, more stressful hours for less pay than their competitors, and will be more prone to making a mistake.
Your Information Systems will atrophy and not be upgraded.
You will not be able to afford a new digital radiology system and will still work from traditional film.
Your competitor WILL put in a new digital radiology system, as well as speech recognition software for dictation AND digital mammography units, and will trumpet that advantage in the advertisements they will pepper the media with in your locale.
Your institution will have a higher post-op mortality rate, there will be more critical mistakes, and the state and federal regulating agencies will notice, and come to inspect your hospital.
Articles will appear in the daily newspaper, and you will see your hospital logo on the evening news referring to the poor patient care.
Nursing unions will go on strike, good physicians will leave for greener pastures, and sometimes, the hospital, often a community icon, goes broke.
Those people in that community have to now drive 20 miles to a different hospital.
Trauma patients have fewer places to be taken to, and stories appear about needless deaths due to ER’s being shut down or on diverson.
THAT is what happens to hospitals that do not run their institutions like a BUSINESS. What makes it a business is money.
But just because you have to run it like a business does NOT mean you have to treat people like widgets on an assembly line. If you do a good job running the business end, pay well, provide a stable, modern environment, people are more efficient and happier, deliver better care, and patients are the beneficiaries.
Sure. Our medical care in America is expensive. And it is not perfect. Just as there are a lot of horror stories about socialized medicine, there are many about horrible mistakes in American medicine.
But we do deliver the best care in the world for the most people. Nobody is ever denied care because they cannot pay in this country. That is a myth. You walk into an ER, you get care. You make an appointment to see a doctor and you are uninsured, you get a session with a financial counselor. You may sign a paper in a non-emergent situation stating that you are responsible for paying for treatment, but you still get the care, and in nearly all cases, the quality of care is blind to the amount of money you can pay.
If you take money out of the situation, all the benefits of competition disappear. Everyone gets lousy care. Or, sometimes you don’t get that care.
Capitalism works.
It is the engine that has driven more prosperity and good for mankind than nearly any other movement. It works in industry. And it works in Health Care.
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