re: Recordings Reveal Lockstep COVID-19 Protocols, Patient Isolation by Hospitals

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Not that I see that money.

Nor does your hospital.

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Right- your department’s justification for existence is the service to patients that it provides. It’s a great and valuable service. The more ventilators, the more money that goes to the respiratory department.




…for the cost of the extra techs, tubing, sterilization, daily Trach/vent care, etc.

Generally speaking, the longer a patient stays in an ICU or is ventilated, the bigger the bill and the smaller the profit to the hospital. This is generally a good thing- who would want a world where hospitals got paid extra to keep people who didn’t know any better sedated and ventilated for days on end? The idea behind the DRG (and lack of money for readmissions that also exists) is that you get people in, out, and keep them at home after (or prevent them from needing to come back in, may be the better way to think about it for the layfolk) with a hunk of change for what you didn’t spend on. So that’s why hospitals don’t do back MRIs “because the patient was already here” and all that jazz. Argue right/wrong- that’s the system in place today. This isn’t defense of it or promotion of it. Merely a simple explanation of how it is.


Again, there was a CMS “blip” on the radar. There were a lot of people who legitimately needed prolonged hospital stays, ICU stays, and vent days. This is generally a “loser” on hospital bottom lines. Most hospitals aren’t able to sustain that coupled with the government mandates shutdown of the money makers (outpatient surgery, namely), so they said, “hm. We’ll pay you more for your COVID cases and that should balance out.”



If it sounds retarded, that’s because most government decisions in healthcare are.


ETA- I wrote “techs” but should have written “therapists.” Forgive me, but I leave my mistake to accept the due shame.