(Snippets from the frontline)
Freebies
Your loved-one is admitted to a hospital, rushed through a battery of tests, treatment started, then “efficiently” discharged to a nursing home. The doctor is capable, kind, and knowledgable…and also gets payed a hospital bonus for diligently pushing for rapid discharge.
A bonus? Does a physician really need an incentive to hasten care while possibly missing potential health factors that might contribute to the illness (like abnormal vital signs, lab tests, or symptoms). Does this lead to misdiagnosis, a hospital re-admission, or even death?
Some hospitals further incentivize the process and offer doctors an office computer to sweeten the pot. (60 years ago, gas stations would give away toasters to attract business….but this was stopped when the giveaway became cigarette lighters…yep…in a gas station!)
For physicians, this is known as an illegal kick back, but of course hospital lawyers find a way around the illegal part.
Ask your doctor if they get a bonus for getting you or your loved one out of the hospital “efficiently.”
Then ask the hospital if they are giving away free cigarette lighters.
Certainly, both can be bad for your health.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
Certainly.
You have my email…contact me.
Gene
Any chance of providing even a little evidence for your serious indictment? Data, survey, anecdote, anything? I have been practicing for 35 years and I am unaware of this practice.