Hospitals are the most expensive place to get medical care in the health care industry. Hospitals consume nearly one-third of health care expenditures, accounting for more than $1.33 trillion a year. I often advise people to never get anything done at a hospital if they are physically able to go anywhere else. For example, my wife unknowingly started to make an appointment for an outpatient CT scan at a nearby hospital.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
FDA: Eye Surgeons Need to Inform Patients about Lasik Risks
Ophthalmologists tend to view corrective eye surgery as routine, something which everyone with poor eyesight can benefit from. Although there are many types of corrective eye surgery Lasik is probably the best known and most widely used. My wife went for an eye surgery consultation only to discover the surgeon’s waiting room was about as busy as Grand Central Station. The ophthalmologist viewed the surgery as so routine that he didn’t really spend much time consulting with her. She ended up talking to him briefly and his staff for much of the overview. The experience did not sit well with her, and she decided against the surgery.
Texas Legislature Debating Licensing Assistant/Associate Physicians
Texas is the latest state to consider licensing assistant physicians / associate physicians to treat patients within the state. These are not to be confused with physician assistants. The former titles are medical school graduates who have not matched to a residency program. The Texas House Bill is 2556.
‘Pass-Through Billing’ Health Care Scams
Nearly three years ago I wrote about rural hospital lab scams. That’s when a shady marketing consultant working with scammers convinces struggling rural hospitals that they have a solution for precarious hospital finances. Basically, every lab test ordered by affiliated physicians is billed through a rural hospital with a more lucrative lab contract. The hospital makes money for doing nothing, while the marketing guys get a big, fat cut of the proceeds. You and I pay higher prices as a result.