Health Care and Hospitals

Hospitals these days have difficult challenges. Costs for both labor and equipment are rising, patients justifiably demand the latest and best in medical practice, and they (and their attorneys) justifiably expect that their health care will be delivered in a responsible manner.

Higher tech medicine with all the expensive equipment it entails offer patients a chance at better care, but in order to afford the equipment, the hospital must utilize it wisely, maximizing returns to balance the line between value to patients, and financial return.

There is an increasing trend of physicians becoming employees of hospitals rather than having independent practices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/bu...it_th_20121201

There are hospitals and doctors that offer outstanding quality. But increasing financial pressures and lower returns from Medicare and insurance companies mean that some hospitals and doctors cut too many corners and a few may not have your best interests in mind.

Managed care is a double edged sword. I personally believe that standards in health care are absolutely a good thing. To lose a family member because a doctor forgot to order a certain test is unthinkable.
But we as consumers must research and be prepared, to lose a family member because of the risks of an unnecessary procedure is unthinkable as well.

What does that mean for you and me? To me, it means more than ever that people should be educated consumers when it comes to health care. Wandering into a doctor's office and blindly following his/her advice without doing some research into both the doctor and increasingly, the hospital he is affiliated or employed by, can at times be like wandering onto the lot of a used car salesman and just buying the car he recommends.

I'm not painting a picture of evil hospitals, because for most hospitals, that would be unfair and untrue. A few doctors, and a few hospitals, are motivated purely by self interest, and it is your responsibility to ferret out the good from the bad. Just as the BOI helps people with their choices in transactions, increasingly there are tools from reviews Angie's List to more sophisticated comparisons, to guide people to quality hospitals and physicians.

To see a doctor or go to a hospital without checking out reviews is like buying a snake without going first to the BOI and checking the vendor's reputation. I'm not naming names, but would you want to wake up in an emergency room with (an unnamed Bad Guy) standing over you with a scalpel?

Don't forget lawsuits and the insurance premiums they're up against.

I agree, always double check things. Today's doctors are incredibly busy, and can miss things. I'm lucky to live with a pharmacist, who on more than one occasion has caught what could be a potentially dangerous drug interaction before we even left the doctor's office. (I loan him out for a fee. ) He's also been incredibly helpful when it comes to meds and the critters, too.

It's also a VERY good idea to have your own copy of your medical records. Especially if you're seeing more than one doctor. It's your health, you have a right to know all of these things, and you definitely have a right to ask all the questions you want.

I'm blessed with a primary care doc here that I just adore. She does all of the work I need done at my age, and I'm very comfortable with her. We'd have never found her, if we hadn't talked to friends and asked who they would recommend locally. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth.