Some good news at least regarding corona covid-19

[Judee]

New IHME COVID-19 Forecasts Find Lower Hospital Bed Need, Epidemics starting to peak confirm social distancing works: https://news.yahoo.com/ihme-covid-19-forecasts-lower-062700081.html

They are saying given the massive infusion of new data..."...estimates find that need for hospital beds, ICU beds, and ventilators needed to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic are less than previously estimated.

The numbers still aren't great but at least that some good news finally.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

I know it doesn;t seem like much, considering all the obstacles to genuine improvement, but under the circumstances, it's absolutely terrific !!!

 

[Judee]

I am still trying to find the source of this comment I read, but they said a doctor in the US is saying that Medicare coding allows or pays hospitals something like $4600 for a pneumonia classified patient, $14000 for a Covid-19 classified patient and $39,000 for a Covid-19 patient that they used a respirator on.

This is discouraging to me because it sounds like they have incentivized hospitals to mis-classify the cause of admission or death in order to collect more for the patient. And possibly relying on respirators even more when some doctors think they actually can be harmful for some patients: https://news.yahoo.com/doctors-think-ventilators-more-harm-162500782.html

How in the world are we ever going to get accurate numbers on this whole thing?

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

This is discouraging to me because it sounds like they have incentivized hospitals to mis-classify the cause of admission or death in order to collect more for the patient.

That's quite a leap, based on the OP:

They are saying given the massive infusion of new data..."...estimates find that need for hospital beds, ICU beds, and ventilators needed to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic are less than previously estimated.

Am hoping that you can find the article you read where the Dr stated that they were being incentivized to misclassify patents and collect the extra insurance payments, because that's scandalous and incredibly sleazy (I won;t bother to mention illegal, that goes without saying), even to me, and I tend to view most Drs with a jaundiced eye ....

 

[Judee]

I think this doctor was actually being a whistleblower of sorts which is good but I don't have access to that info and when I do a internet search no sites are talking about it that I can find. Sorry.

Anyway, it's Medicare and the CDC's new ICD coding that makes this permissible though, because CDC says a patient doesn't have to be tested at all to be coded as a Covid-19 patient so hospitals are going to benefit more financially to go ahead and code them that way. I don't remember if I posted this already: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/...w-ICD-code-introduced-for-COVID-19-deaths.pdf
It's the last question on the sheet.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

I think this doctor was actually being a whistleblower of sorts which is good but I don't have access to that info and when I do a internet search no sites are talking about it that I can find. Sorry.

Anyway, it's Medicare and the CDC's new ICD coding that makes this permissible though, because CDC says a patient doesn't have to be tested at all to be coded as a Covid-19 patient so hospitals are going to benefit more financially to go ahead and code them that way.

I'm not a fan of most Drs and hospitals, but the first responders and essential emps aren't the only ones who've been staggeringly hit by COVID.

Hospitals all over the country, particular in smaller towns and more rural areas (at lest those that still have hospitals, but that's a rant for another day) are about to go bankrupt and shut down forever.

Imagine a nation-wide medical system controlled by 2 or 3 or 4 large hospital chains. Wow !!! If we think things are bad now, consider what happens when the 800 lb gorilla explodes to 8 tons, in terms of the quality of care we'll all receive.

I know many of us think it couldn't possibly get any worse, but I'm pretty sure it can, particularly when the monetary incentive grows to the obscene proportions that would allow.

So I'm of two minds about this, and after thinking about it, I'm beginning to come down on the side of that old financial axiom, " .... spread the pain ....". Let the insurance companies take a few for the team, keep hospitals marginally solvent but at least still operating, and hope everything heals right up as soon as this blows on out, like the rump in the WH keeps saying it will ....

 

[Judee]

I read this the other day and it seemed like good news to me as well. It's from the New York Times and the headline is:

Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html

It made me feel more optimistic about the numbers. Yes, it is still a horrible disease and we still need to be so cautious but still I feel better knowing that they found this is happening in some cases.