Walk-in, Walk-out Day Care Surgeries in Demand

Today, the emphasis of most of the researches and advancements in healthcare is on introducing technology that supports day care procedures and surgeries. The average length of stay (ALOS) in hospitals has reduced drastically for many types of surgeries like Endoscopic, Laproscopic, Ophthalmic, Orthopeadic and cosmetic surgeries.

Cost containment, decompression of beds, reduced nosocomial infection and early recovery in home environment are some of the factors that are inclining people more towards day care surgeries in healthcare. When we talk of cost containment, it has benefited both the providers and the seekers. The healthcare providers are able to contain their cost to as high as 40% and on the other hand, the seekers pay less for the cost of stay which has many other costs coupled with the same.

The woeful number of Patient: Bed ratio in developing nations, increasing fight of chronic and lifestyle diseases and burden of more aging population is unable to match the demand and supply which is further increasing the demand of day care surgeries amongst both, the healthcare providers and the patients.

The day care surgeries sound gifted and promising in today's scenario but the challenges attached to the same cannot be ignored, especially in the developing nations. Day care procedures and surgeries have its' own set of clinical quality protocols which needs to be adhered to very strictly to avoid any post operative complication acquired due to lack of medical care which could have been provided within the hospital by the medical and paramedical team. Once the patient walks-out of the operation theatre, his post operative care is more dependent on his family and relatives instead of medical team in the hospitals.

But all said and done, the advantages of the day care surgeries is no wonder much beyond its disadvantages and the time is not too far when more and more complicated tertiary care surgeries shall be done under day care.

A New Healthcare model for Geriatric Population

The concept of managed care at home is adopted in many developed countries to provide healthcare options to the elderly with any chronic illness while they are still at home. Getting admitted in nursing homes or hospitals was the only way to seek long-term medical care till date. But, with the advent of this model, the gap between an elderly and his medical care is bridged.

With the burden of communicable and non communicable diseases, increasing elderly population, soaring health care cost, and shrinking insurance coverages, this model can be a boon for many aged patients who find this more financially viable and medically justified option. Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), is the program that provides all the services of a nursing home including periodic examinations by the doctors and nurses, daytime social activities, physical and occupational therapy and complete healthcare at home. The concept of Accountable Care Organizations is also being promoted to increase and sustain quality of care, better management of chronic illnesses amongst the elderly and control expenditures on health.

According to the recent information in the New York Times on February 23, 2012, the PACE model has grown rapidly from 42 programs in 22 states in year 2007 to 84 in 29 states today.

Also, many countries of South-East Asia region have also established various community based health care services that integrate with primary healthcare structure for the elderly.

Though, the idea is still not so prevalent in developing nations, but can be explored with a very positive move to reach the most vulnerable elderly population of these nations.

Fraud - A big issue in health industry

Healthcare is becoming the most glaring example for corruption all over the world, especially in developing and transitional economies where public resources are less. Instead of offering good health, it is leading to more human sufferings and worsening of diseases.

Fraudulent billings, inflated diagnosis, doctor's partnership with company hospitals for giving kickbacks for referrals are few areas where corruption is building its wall in health industry. With strong nexus between the doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment companies, the patients are over prescribed medicines and tests, charged overtly for procedures that might not be required, thereby complicating their treatment and adding more agony to their health.

Not only this, there have been incidences where, due to declining health insurance reimbursements, more doctors, regardless of their specialty are promoting cosmetic procedures which are more of out of pocket procedures and not covered by any insurances. Few such examples include that of liposuction, botox injection and breast augmentation. Today, botox injection, given for reducing wrinkles, is administered by any doctor from any specialty. Doctors have started to perform this procedure forgetting their actual specialty just to earn that extra which is not their piece of meal.

With all these corrupt practices, it is directly reducing the resources available for health, deteriorating the quality of treatment, reducing the effectiveness of the health care services and loosing the trust of people on healthcare professionals. Addressing corruption may seem daunting but protecting people from such healthcare professionals who have gone so far would require collective efforts of general public, healthcare professionals and healthcare policy makers.

Irrational use of diagnostics is hurting patient’s health and pockets

We all understand that early detection of a disease is very important in order to curtail the spread of the disease to a level where it might become fatal. But, does it give the physician a liberty to over prescribe the tests? It seems that doctors have started to look too hard for a disease in their patients without realizing that the benefit of prescribing unnecessary tests it not percolating to the patients.

Over testing is not only making people unhealthy in pursuit of health but is also depleting them financially. Most of the patients feel that these tests are benign in nature and cannot put them to risk but the overuse of imaging studies like CT scans, electrocardiograms, coronary angiographies, X-rays and many others may harm them. And to add to their sufferings, the exorbitant costs of these tests may hurt their pockets as well.

We understand that proper diagnosis triggers the treatment, but the use of imaging services is overshooting the actual requirement these days. As rightly stated by Dr Otis Brawley, CMO of American Cancer Society, “It’s medical Gluttony”.

With increasing awareness amongst the general public, they are becoming more skeptical about pursuing their treatment. The trust is certainly vanishing from their mind. Hence, steps should be taken to curb this problem now. An effort by The American College of Physicians (ACP), the largest U.S. medical specialty group, in rolling out guidelines for doctors to help them identify when patients should be screened for specific diseases and when they can be spared can help in achieving the aim. Involving, various regulatory authorities like FDA, NCRP, BARC, AERB etc and other eminent people in the field of medicine in setting protocols for the physicians and maintaining safety measures for the patients can help in controlling the irrational use of imaging.

Moreover, educating people to ask more queries to their physician about testing may save their family member from this unwarranted exposure to radiations.

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Medical Tourism-A feather added for business growth of hospitals

With the advent of medical tourism, the limitation of catering to only local market is now over in various countries across the world. The benefit that was restricted to only western countries has started to take its place in other parts of the world where the hospitals have started to explore this as a new venture for enhancing revenue sources. Many Asian countries have started to strategize their marketing initiatives so well that they have been able to capture the international market by setting their representative offices or agencies in other countries thereby increasing their footprints and setting their roots deeper and deeper for more patient source and in turn more revenue.  

Medical tourism is attached with lucrative business potential. Hospitals catering to international patients garner 10-15% more revenue than their regular patients, there by increasing their top line and mounts to 15-25% increase in net profit margins which leads to increased bottom line as well. The major factor that contributes to high revenue are upfront cash paying patients and international insurance policies that covers the patient for most of the disorders without much capping on expenses made towards their treatment unlike the conventional government insurances that have limitations in providing the cover. Not only this, these insurance companies are better pay masters and settle the claims much faster than the government insurance companies, there by passing the benefit of more cash in hand in the balance sheets of the hospitals.

Though, the concept is still embarked mostly amongst private hospitals but in few countries, it is now being supported by the government that has enabled many countries to strategize this concept for national economic growth as well.

20 Hospitals With Inspiring Social Media Strategies

Hospitals and social media are a great mix, offering a wealth of opportunities for connecting with the community, patients, and even collaborating across health systems and between different hospitals. Some medical groups are wary of the liability and privacy issues that social media may open up, but others have found ways to manage these concerns and enjoy the benefits of using social media.

http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/blog/20-hospitals-with-inspiring-social-media-strategies/