Quote:
Originally Posted by zonerboy
I thought the multi-million dollar expansion project was supposed to solve the problem of extraordinary long ER waits at The Villages Regional Hospital?
Oh well.....perhaps it isn't complete yet....
But then again, you can build as many exam/treatment rooms as you want but if you don't adequately staff them, the problem will remain. So what's the problem with obtaining sufficient staff. Well the main problem is that you have to pay them. And where does the money come from to pay these medical professionals? It comes from third party payers for services rendered, such as Medicare and private health insurance companies operating under Obamacare. Since The Villages is an over 55 community with a population of over 100,000 there is a very high percentage of Medicare patients here. And Medicare compensation is notoriously low compared to private insurance. And Obamacare only makes the compensation situation worse.
So don't blame the developer for your long wait. Blame your government.
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I do agree with you that if one does not hire adequate staff the problem will remain. You asked "what is the problem with obtaining adequate staff?" I would prefer to keep politics out of this but you mention Obamacare. When you think about it... those individuals (specifically the working poor because we know that an individual could certainly be non-low income but be without medical care) that have bought into Obamacare are now actually claimed under a billable insurance company. It should be known that the ER department constitutes one of the biggest economic strains for a hospital virtually above all other departments due to the fact that in a public hospital one can not refuse medical care. Prior to Obamacare, the non insured working poor would be treated in the ER, billed, and then it was up to the ER to pursue payment which in many cases was not forthcoming thus draining the economic viability of the institution.
I am knew to TV but I refuse to buy into the ideology that a medical institution in such an economically viable community can not function properly. My question is why isn't the rest of the hospital's billable services not covering the smooth functioning of the ER? I don't have the answer to that but I think it is a viable question.
Another point I would like to bring up is that many of the doctors that visit admitted patients do not take a plethora of insurance plans. I have recently retired to TV but I am part of a "cadillac" insurance plan from NYC (I am not yet age eligible to apply for medicare.) My plan is accepted by virtually every doctor in every teaching hospital in NYC (Columbia Presbyterian, Sloan Kettering, Mt. Sinai) and yet it is not accepted here. I think we need to educate our doctors on insurance plans that do pay a higher percentage than medicare, medicaid and other Obamacare insurance companies. I'm good with carrying medicare patients as I will be one in the years to come, but I am not OK with doctors not accepting plans that could assist in carrying other services provided by Medicare and Obamicare because they just never thought to ask. I do not want to continue to pay out of service rates for doctors that would be glad to participate in a plan that they have no knowledge of... we are all transplants with different insurances and well... stories.