April 17th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Humor, Opinion
Tags: 911, Blog Disclaimer, Emergency, Legal Disclaimer
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I’m sure you’ve seen them on medical blogs: Disclaimers that remind readers to call 911 in the event of emergency.
But is someone choking on a hot dog really going to dial up KevinMD or SeattleMamaDoc for help? Does anyone really believe that 33 charts is the place to deal with your acute airway obstruction when you have a just a couple of minutes to live?
Here’s my theory: I suspect that the first attorney who came up with the 911 disclaimer did so as some sort of perverse joke. And rather than seek the input of their own lawyers, all those who followed simply copied the this original language believing it to be judicious and most conservative. Now it’s the longest running gag in legal history. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
April 14th, 2011 by Happy Hospitalist in Health Policy, Humor, True Stories
Tags: Cardiology, CHF, CMS, Geriatrics, Heart Failure, Internal Medicine, Medicare, Penalties, Readmission Rates, Salt
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This was a classic moment of comical clarity that only comes along once a week. As you may or may not know, starting in 2013, The Medicare National Bank has promised to take back 1% of all of a hospital’s total Medicare revenue (to increase in future years) if the hospital has a higher 30 day readmission rate for congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction or pneumonia than an as yet undefined acceptable 30 day rate of readmission.
What does this mean? It means if the government decides that 20% is an acceptable rate for congestive heart failure 30 day readmission, and the hospital has a readmission rate of 25%, the hospital will be told to return 1% of all Medicare revenue for the year, not just their heart failure revenue.
Let’s use some hypothetical numbers, shall we? If a hospital generates $250 million dollars in a year on 25,000 Medicare discharge diagnosis related groups (DRGs) but only 100 of those discharge DRGs (or $1,000,000) were heart failure in 2013, what would happen if 21 CHF patients returned for readmission (a 21% thirty day readmission rate) within 30 days for heart failure instead of allowable 20%? The hospital would have to return 2.5 million dollars (1% of their total revenue on all Medicare admissions).
That one patient that took them from 20% to 21% will cost them 2.5 million dollars. The hospital would generate one million dollars in CHF revenue for the year and pay back 2.5 million dollars in penalty. That’s a pretty hefty price to pay considering that hospital profit margins from Medicare have been negative, on average, for most of the last decade. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
April 12th, 2011 by Berci in Humor, Medblogger Shout Outs, Medical Art
Tags: Blogging, cartoon, Fun, Medicine, Ten Types Of Bloggers, Types of Physician Bloggers
1 Comment »
One of my favourite blogs just featured a nice picture that presents the 10 typical types of medical bloggers.
Here they are:
- Dr. Funny
- Dr. Mommy
- Dr. Boring
- Dr. Didactic
- Dr. Product Placement
- Dr. Resident
- Dr. No Longer A Doctor
- Dr. Political
- Dr. Miracle
- Dr. Whiny
Which type do you belong to?
Click on the image for the original source and size.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
April 11th, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Appointment Reminder, EMR, Medical, Phone Calls, Scheduling, Staff
1 Comment »
Like many offices, we have a policy of calling patients to remind them of upcoming appointments, usually one to two days ahead of time. With the advent of our new EMR, we have the option of having the system send them email reminders. The vast majority of folks who’ve received these just love them. But there are still several patients a day who get phone calls.
The other recent change in the office, cutting the staff by 50%, means that my one remaining staffer is the one who makes the calls. She has other stuff to do, though — lots of other stuff, actually — so that she may not get around to these calls until later in the day.
Thank goodness our patients are right on the ball: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
April 10th, 2011 by DrWes in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Cardiology, Guts, O.R., Operating Room, Pediatrics, Through A child's eyes
1 Comment »
He must have been about eight at the time. I had made the mistake of watching doctor shows on TV with him and he had probably heard my wife and I describe the challenges of my doctor lifestyle at times over dinner. For the most part, he seemed oblivious and liked the things that most young boys at that age do: sports, jungle gyms, mud, and bicycles, but he had never seen his Dad at work.
So the day came when my wife was doing errands and stopped by the hospital with the kids to drop off my pager which I had inadvertently left at home. As timing would have it, I had just scrubbed in a case, so she was kind enough to bring the pager to the electrophysiology lab control room where the technicians could retrieve it for me. My son, realizing how close he was to my workplace asked within earshot of the technician, “Mom, could I see?” She looked at the technician, and he nodded agreement. Cautiously, they entered the control room just to wave “hi” briefly through the glass. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
I’m sure you’ve seen them on medical blogs: Disclaimers that remind readers to call 911 in the event of emergency.
