Physician-Owned Hospitals Rated High but Are Doomed
Writing in Investor’s Business Daily, David Hogberg reports that nine of the ten best hospitals ranked by the administration’s Hospital Value Based Purchasing program are physician-owned, but these are the very same hospitals slated for extinction by the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). The law withholds Medicare funds from any physician-owned hospitals built after 2010 and makes expansion of existing ones very difficult.
Sorry to see this.
Such a wise law. As everyone knows, good hospitals are more likely to be designed and run by teachers, auto mechanics, or mechanical engineers than by physicians.
“The law withholds Medicare funds from any physician-owned hospitals built after 2010 and makes expansion of existing ones very difficult.”
– Like most, I have a very big problem with this. The quality of one’s work should be more important than the implementation of a socilized healthcare system.
Not a good implementation…let’s not disregard quality.
Certainly the ACA has flaws, and this is one of them that must be dealt with quickly. The can’t just dismantle these organizations.
LOL, Linda. LOVE that.
Following up on Linda’s comment. Actuaries would absolutely show improvement in the financial condition of Medicare if treatment facilities were staffed by say…HHS workers. It would almost be sure that the patients would not be re-admitted.
LOL applies to all of the PPACA. This is the first of many socialist over reaches from his administration!
This is what happens when you turn health care over to the same people who run Amtrak and the Post Office.
This is one of the few good features of the ACA legization.
It is well known that physician owned hospitals ‘Cherry Pick” the “good pay” patients to send to their physician owned Hospital to line their pockets with $ and send (dare I say dump) all the “no pays” to the commuity hospitals to drive up expenses for the public.
Question for Charles: Should a physician get paid for their service/expertise? Does it matter where they are practicing? Your comment seems to indicate that they “owe” no pays a level of service and their time without compensation. A big problem in healthcare is the ever present desire to give away someone else’s money and/or time.
All professionals should take their fair share of “Community Service” and no it is not right to dump on the Community Hospitals. By “Cherry Picking” to their own Physician Owned Hospital pockets they create a double disservice, first by the dubious ethical conflict with their patient to the physician’s own gain but then to dump on the community hospitals to bleed them dry. It is the height of conflict of interest.
Charles, are you a doctor? Who are you by the way? I am a health IT executive. We give away services for free at our own choosing and give discounts to educational institutions…again of our own choosing. Putting aside the conflict of interest of doctor owned facilities (which is a tiny fraction of all delivery systems)…exactly how much “free” service should a physician give. I know many that give and give freely…but always of their own volition…including physician owned facilities. But what I am interested in is your perspective on how much they should give and who should determine that…you…HHS…some govt board? You make a statement that implies that docs are doing something “wrong” and lining their pockets at the expense of society and I want you to justify it.
God forbid that these individuals who totalled up over $200,000 in school debt over 14 years of undergraduate to speciality fellowships actually charge someone for their time – or only choose to provide care to patients who can pay for it.
Likewise, how dare those mechanics actually ask me for money to fix my car? They even refuse to fix my car if I can’t pay for it. It’s a travesty.
My perspective is Bankers shouldn’t use bank funds as their own piggy banks, lawyers shouldn’t own the courthouses, stockbrockers shouldn’t play with their client’s funds. Yes, I am am in healthcare.
Ok Charles…you are waaay off the reservation. Bank fraud, corruption at the courthouse (between lawyer and judge I presume), mis-use of client funds are all felonies. Physicians provide service for a fee which is normally in the form of insurance reimbursement. If it is private pay, I have never met a doc that did not give an accommodation to a patient with limited ability to pay. But you are going further…you are indicating that there is an obligation to give free service, and I am asking you how much free service…let’s say, as a percentage of a docs available time. Man up here Charles and give an answer. Mr. Prince correctly points out that a doc is deeply in debt by the time they finish Med School…maybe much more than $200k. In addition, they need to come up with a malpractice insurance payment to start working to pay off that mountain of debt and govt mandated insurance costs. You say you are in health…but you have a pretty absolutist position on what is right….I think you are in govt.
Congratulations, you have worn me out. Both of us are entitled to our opinions. I have to go.
I am glad I still have that right…and you too. Have a good day Charles.