August 2nd, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in True Stories
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I posted this true story on my blog previously, but I think it bears repeating (especially with the recent news of increased violence against physicians and threats at gunpoint). Details of the story were altered to ensure privacy of all involved.
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The son of a business tycoon experienced some diarrhea. He went to his local emergency room immediately, explaining to the staff who his father was, and that he required immediate treatment.
Because of his father’s influence, the man was indeed seen immediately. The physicians soon realized, however, that there was nothing emergent about this man’s complaints. After several blood tests and a stool sample were taken, he was administered some oral fluids and monitored for several hours, they chose to release him to recover from his gastroenteritis (stomach flu) at home.
The man complained bitterly and said that he wanted to be admitted to the hospital. The physicians, with respect, explained that he didn’t show any signs of dehydration, that he had no fever, his diarrhea was indeed fairly mild (he had only gone to the restroom once during the hours of his ED visit – and that was when he was asked to produce a stool sample). The man’s pulse was in the 70’s and he had no acute abdominal tenderness.
The man left in a huff, and called his father to rain down sulfur on the ED that wouldn’t admit him.
And his father did just that.
Soon every physician in the chain of command, from the attending who treated him in the ED right up to the hospital’s medical chief of staff had received an ear full. Idle threats of litigation were thrown about, and vague references to cutting key financial support to the hospital made its way to the ear of the hospital CEO.
The hospital CEO appeared in the ED in person, all red and huffing, quite convinced that the physicians were “unreasonable” and showed “poor judgment.” Arguments to the contrary were not acceptable, and the physicians were told that they would admit this man immediately.
The triumphant young man returned to the ED for his admission. Since the admitting diagnosis was supposedly dehydration, a nurse was asked to place an IV line. The man was speaking so animatedly on his cell phone, boasting to a friend about how the doctors wouldn’t admit him to the hospital so his dad had to make them see the light, that he moved his other arm just at the point when the nurse was inserting the IV needle. Of course, the poor woman missed his vein.
And so the man flew into a rage, calling her incompetent, cursing the hospital, and refusing to allow her to try again.
At this point, the ED physicians just wanted him out of the emergency room – so they admitted him to medicine’s service with the following pieces of information on his chart:
Admit for bowel rest. Patient complaining of diarrhea. Blood pressure 120/80, pulse 72, temperature 98.5, no abdominal tenderness, no white count, patient refusing IV hydration.
Now, this is code for: this admission is total BS. Any doctor reading these facts knows that the patient is perfectly fine and is being admitted for non-health related reasons. With normal vital signs, and no evidence of dehydration or infection, this hardly qualifies as a legitimate reason to take up space in a hospital bed. And when the patient is refusing the only treatment that might plausibly treat him, you know you’re in for trouble.
The man was discharged the next day, after undergoing (at his insistence) an abdominal CAT scan, a GI consult, an ultrasound of his gallbladder, and a blood culture. His total hospital fee was about $8,000.
Do you think he paid out of pocket for this? No. He submitted the claim for payment to his insurance company. Their medical director, of course, reviewed the hospital chart and realized that the man had no indication for admission, and refused medical care to boot, so he denied the claim.
So the son appealed to his father, who then rained down sulfur on the insurance company, threatening to pull his entire business (with its thousands of workers insured by them) from the company if they didn’t pay his son’s claim.
The medical director at the insurance company dug in his heels on principle, assuming that if he continued to deny the claim, the hospital would (eventually) agree to “eat the cost.”
In the end, the insurance company did not pay the claim. The CEO of the insurance company called the hospital CEO, explaining that it was really the doctor’s fault for admitting a man who didn’t meet admission requirements. The hospital CEO agreed to discipline the physician (yes, you read that corretly) and eat the cost to maintain a good relationship with the insurance company that generally pays the hospital in a timely manner for a large number of patient services.
Welcome to the complicated world of cost shifting in healthcare.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 30th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Expert Interviews, Health Policy
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I recently interviewed former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson about her views on health information technology (IT). She described her vision of an ideal IT solution, and what it should be able to do for physicians and patients. For the full interview, please check out my post at Medpolitics.com
Dr. Val: What would the ideal IT system look like?
Ms. Johnson: It would offer continuously updated evidence-based guidelines at the point of care for physicians. It would give patients clear information about what they should expect. It would enable physician social networks to promote learning and experience sharing with one another. It would promote continuous improvement of care practices, and track outcomes and results to continue refining healthcare delivery. Patients should be given check lists and preventive health guidelines, and be asked to provide feedback on any complications or unanticipated events.
If we could aggregrate deidentified patient information we would gain powerful insight into adverse drug events (or unanticipated positive effects) at the very earliest stages. It could be useful in identifying and monitoring epidemics or even terrorist incidents. This could advance medical science faster than ever before. Until we have all this information at our finger tips, we can’t imagine all the potential applications.
Dr. Val: Are you describing a centralized, national EMR?
Ms. Johnson: Not necessarily. But if systems are interoperable, it could function as one. I imagine it as a series of banks run by local administrators, but with the capability of sharing certain deidentified data with one another.
Dr. Val: Do you think the government should design this information system?
Ms. Johnson: No. You don’t want the government doing it alone. As much as I love the government and have been working in it for decades, it’s simply not good at updating and modernizing systems. You have to have a public-private partnership in this. The government should be involved to protect the public interest, and the private sector should be involved so that the system can be innovative, nimble, and easily updated.
Technology will bring us extraordinary new capabilities to manage our health, prevent illness, minimize the impact of disease on our lives, improve the ability of physicians to evaluate our state of health, allow us to integrate advances in medicine in a timely fashion, and quantify the impact of new inventions and procedures. All this, and IT will help us to promote prevention and control costs associated with acute care.
We have a high quality system now, but because it’s so disorganized, the patient doesn’t receive the quality they should. The incredible advances in technology that we have created should be available to all who need it. Unfortunately that’s not the case now.
If you look at Canada’s use of the specialist and specialist equipment along the US’s border with Canada, it says a lot about government run healthcare.
*See full interview at Medpolitics.com*This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 28th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Expert Interviews, Health Policy
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I had the chance to interview Drs. Carmona, Satcher, and Novello about the current state of America’s war on cancer. I’ll post each conversation in a separate blog entry. This post explores Dr. Novello’s views on creating a healthcare navigation system for patients with cancer.
Dr. Val: How are cancer patients navigating the system currently?
Dr. Novello: They are relying primarily on their oncologists to help them navigate. But even though oncologists want to help their patients as much as possible, the reality is that they are taking care of thousands of patients at a time and simply don’t have the bandwidth to assist with the level of detail necessary.
Cancer is extremely complicated and patient care is not just about diagnosis, staging, and treatment. It also includes tests for genetic markers, coordination of genetic counseling, finding appropriate clinical trials for the patients to participate in, locating a continuity of care supervisor, rehabilitation services, scheduling chemotherapy, radiation, and surgical treatments.
Cancer doesn’t happen in a vacuum – patients also have other medical conditions that need to be managed along with the cancer diagnosis. In addition, one must create a comprehensive follow up plan for survivors, including scheduling of surveillance tests to identify possible recurrences. If a cure is not an option, then palliative care and hospice services must be coordinated. In addition to that, patients must create a living will, designate someone to have power of attorney over their care, and prepare for the legal aspects of their passing. This is why a diagnosis of cancer can be overwhelming to most people, and they are in desperate need of a structured program to help them navigate the complexities and to ensure that the ball is not dropped anywhere along the way.
Dr. Val: What’s the best way to help cancer patients more successfully navigate the healthcare system?
Dr. Novello: We need to create a simple, comprehensive, and accurate way to offer guidance to all Americans with cancer so that they can get the best care possible. You know how some hospitals have painted lines on the floor to help people to navigate from A to B in the building? Well we need this kind of line system for cancer care.
Ellen Stoval at the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, Lance Armstrong and his Foundation, members of the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and members of the President’s Cancer Plan at the National Cancer Institute, have formed a coalition to delineate the features of an ideal cancer patient navigator system. Senators Kennedy and Hutchison are preparing a bill for congress – it would ensure that Medicare covers a cancer patient navigator service. It remains to be seen who will build the service, and how it will be distributed.
Dr. Val: What are the key elements of a cancer patient navigator system?
Dr. Novello: The coalition is unanimous in their opinion that the navigator must provide culturally sensitive, clear information in the native language of the patient. A cancer patient navigator should include assistance with:
Diagnosis: Every patient needs to know the name and stage of the cancer that they have.
Treatment: The treatment plan (including chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgery) that is recommended for them.
Scheduling: A schedule of all their appointments.
Pain Management: A comprehensive plan for pain management so that the patient is not denied access to narcotics if needed.
Psychosocial Services: Access to psychosocial services to assist with coping strategies for depression and family and marriage counseling.
Insurance Assistance: a plan for financing the cost of treatment – specifically an insurance advocate who can help the patient understand and maximize their insurance benefits, and if they’re uninsured, a way to get coverage for the care they need.
Peer Support: A list of support groups that can assist the patient with their emotional needs.
We need everyone to support this upcoming bill so that all cancer patients will have access to a navigation tool that will help them get the care they need in a timely fashion. Successful navigation of this healthcare system can mean the difference between life and death for cancer patients.
Dr. Novello is the Vice President for Women and Children’s Health Policy at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida.
*See the National Call to Action on Cancer Prevention and Survivorship*This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 18th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in True Stories
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This alarming story (h/t KevinMD) of a physician attacked by a drug-seeker reminded me of my intern year. I worked in an inner city hospital in New York, and was scheduled to work in the “detox unit” for a full month. We interns had mixed feelings about our “detox month” – on the one hand, the patients were generally healthy and were unlikely to need blood draws, procedures, spinal taps, intubations, and such. This meant less work to do during our shifts. On the other hand, the patients were hardened drug users, often with a history of violence — and let’s just say that depleting the system of all the heroin, crack, alcohol, and various other substances didn’t tend to put them in the best mood.
I personally did not enjoy my detox month. I’d prefer a “crashing” ICU patient any day over a beligerant, hep C positive man trying to threaten me into giving him an additional dose of colace. And frankly, as a woman it was kind of scary to be around these guys. I never knew if they were going to snap, and no matter how many security guards are around, a lot of damage can happen in the 60 seconds or so it takes them to get to you.
One night the “detox resident” appeared for duty. His shift started at 11pm and the day shift nurses were eager to get home. The security guards were changing shift as well, and had not entered the lock-down area inside the unit. The resident went in alone. Suddenly, one of the patients snapped, and grabbed the unsuspecting doctor by the throat. The patient threw him up against the wall and punched him in the face, breaking his nose and fracturing his eye socket. Blood flew everywhere and the resident tried to fight back to defend himself. Unfortunately he was no match for the 250 pound patient, and sustained a few kicks to the ribs before the security guards were able to subdue the man. The resident was transferred off the detox unit rotation and given an extra week of vacation. I was the intern who was asked to fill in for him.
I felt somewhat paranoid that month, and refused to be inside the lock down area without a security guard within 15 feet of me. Fortunately, I was not physically attacked – I only experienced verbal abuse and the occasional very awkward conversation about genital deformities.
But it was a real wake up call for me – medicine can be a risky business, and white coats do not protect against psychotic aggression. I guess it’s just one of the risks we take in caring for all-comers.
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Addendum: here’s another example of doctors being abused by narcotic-seekers.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
July 18th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Medblogger Shout Outs
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Bureaucracy + worker’s compensation attorneys = THIS
Thanks to Dr. Rob for the laugh-out-loud glimpse into the wonderful world of medical coding.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
