Newspapers Are Better Than Government Regulations
At monitoring hospital quality, that is. From the Dallas Morning News:
It took regulators more than four years to rein in Mahmood. Before they acted, he allegedly submitted more than $1 million in fraudulent billings to the government, and substandard care at his chain of small-town Texas hospitals led to multiple patient deaths.
Warnings reached multiple levels of government, including criminal investigative units and taxing entities. But agencies were slow to take action and often didn’t share information. It wasn’t until this year that they began to crack down on Mahmood.
Top health regulators weren’t even aware Mahmood owned several hospitals until The News sought information about them earlier this year. Regulatory agencies aren’t set up to track problem hospital owners or hold them accountable. Nor do they look for patterns of care breakdowns inside hospital chains.
Mahmood will probably close his facilities, flee to Asia and continue to fraudulently bill Medicare for care. He will likely die of old age before CMS gets around to taking action to end the abuse.
Sad, but true.
There will always be fraudulent people and/or entities, no matter what system or enforcement regulations you implement. That doesn’t mean regulations are all bad and don’t work for any good purpose.
“Mahmood. Top health regulators weren’t even aware Mahmood owned several hospitals until The News sought information about them earlier this year.”
I’ve seen plenty of media reports that have then prompted local or state or federal government action that was stagnant before the issue gained public scrutiny. Let’s not forget that government works as much as it is stimulated by the public.
“Regulatory agencies aren’t set up to track problem hospital owners or hold them accountable.”
A problem
Consider too that “… agencies were slow to take action and often didn’t share information.”
Certainly a problem.
I like how the Dallas Morning News referrers to its self as “The News”
Just about anything could be better than most government regulations.
That is just a really sad thought, that DMN is better than the government at monitoring hospital quality.