As Congress is trying to pass a health-care bill, one of the things that should be included is better oversight of long-term care hospitals and nursing homes. Many of these are for-proft and profit they do. One of the worst, Select, was discussed in an article by Alex Berenson in the 2/10/10 New York Times. He stated that the Select owners, Rocco and Robert Ortenzio, have made about 200 million dollars since 1996. There are several ways the long-term care hospitals and nursing homes can make extra money. I am told that if a patient with dementia has a feeding tube inserted, care is paid for by Medicare and Medi-Cal because this constitutes skilled nursing care. For-profit hosptials are more likely to insert feeding tubes into patients with dementia. Also if these for-proft hospitals discharge a patient before the 25th day they make more money. So discharge they do.
Medical care is left largely up to the nursing staff, many of whom are not RN's, but aides. In California, a physician has to visit a patient just once a month in a nursing home. How can you possibly care for a patient in a facility whom you see just once a month? These for-proft facilities profit from the laws that cause acute hospitals to lose money if a patient is kept too long. Thus, as soon as possible patients who need long-term care are discharged to a nursing home or long-term care facility. Mr. Berenson noted that long-term care hospitals now treat about 200,000 patients a year.
Each of us needs a Living Will or Advanced Directive stating what we do and do not want regarding terminal care. Many elderly people with no families are kept alive with feeding tubes or dialysis because this benefits the for-profit facilities. This would not happen in other countries, such as France and England. Greed has certainly taken over our U.S. healthcare.
As Congress is trying to pass a health-care bill, one of the things that should be included is better oversight of long-term care hospitals and nursing homes. Many of these are for-proft and profit they do. One of the worst, Select, was discussed in an article by Alex Berenson in the 2/10/10 New York Times. He stated that the Select owners, Rocco and Robert Ortenzio, have made about 200 million dollars since 1996. There are several ways the long-term care hospitals and nursing homes can make extra money. I am told that if a patient with dementia has a feeding tube inserted, care is paid for by Medicare and Medi-Cal because this constitutes skilled nursing care. For-profit hosptials are more likely to insert feeding tubes into patients with dementia. Also if these for-proft hospitals discharge a patient before the 25th day they make more money. So discharge they do.
Medical care is left largely up to the nursing staff, many of whom are not RN's, but aides. In California, a physician has to visit a patient just once a month in a nursing home. How can you possibly care for a patient in a facility whom you see just once a month? These for-proft facilities profit from the laws that cause acute hospitals to lose money if a patient is kept too long. Thus, as soon as possible patients who need long-term care are discharged to a nursing home or long-term care facility. Mr. Berenson noted that long-term care hospitals now treat about 200,000 patients a year.
Each of us needs a Living Will or Advanced Directive stating what we do and do not want regarding terminal care. Many elderly people with no families are kept alive with feeding tubes or dialysis because this benefits the for-profit facilities. This would not happen in other countries, such as France and England. Greed has certainly taken over our U.S. healthcare.