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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FJB who wrote (510591)	9/30/2012 1:40:28 PM
From: goldworldnet	3 Recommendations Respond to of 793966

To avoid secondary hospital infections, it's better to be discharged sooner. * * *

To: FJB who wrote (510591)	9/30/2012 2:17:09 PM
From: skinowski	4 Recommendations Respond to of 793966

Rule of thumb - whenever there is a new policy coming down from the government with regard to Medicare and healthcare, start with the assumption that they are full of sh*t. And you'll almost never be wrong. In order to avoid "bounce back" readmissions, the hospitals will get involved more with outpatient care. At first, it will cost them money, but it is a safe bet that before long they'll find a way to get compensated by the government. Those extra costs will quickly take up whatever savings there might be from cutting down on readmissions. There will be yet another cost - Hospitals will try discharging more patients not home, but to nursing homes and rehabs. Those businesses stand to benefit from the new policy. Add hundreds of government jobs needed to run the new policy. Add as many - probably many more - on the hospital side - trying to prevent denials, and fight to reverse them, if they happen. Thousands of new jobs for paper pushers. Nice. GDP goes up. The taxpayer pays. The doc is stuck between opposing pressures of keeping the LOS (length of stay) low -- and avoiding readmissions. Many other implications come to mind, but I don't want to take up y'all's time. Statism works in healthcare not any better than it does in any other sector of the economy.