[refeik]

It is so sad that the Villages Hospital has continued to fall by the CMS ratings. In 2017 it was rated at a 3, now it is rated at a disappointing 1.

[manaboutown]

I noticed that as well when I was checking out hospitals within the two communities in which I spend time. I checked out TV's hospitals as it was easy to do.

Find and compare information about Hospitals | Hospital Compare

[JimJohnson]

I have had one emergency that brought me to The Villages hospital. I was seen very quick, treated and released promptly. Was I lucky or are they normally good at what they do?

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

You can basically blame Medicare for that. Medicare is known to pay far less than any health insurance. Quality begets quality. Offer greater pay, you'll attract greater faculty and staff. If the best you can do is a 90% Medicare payout, then you'll get the bottom 10% of the quality care in return.

[Bambi]

You were lucky. Federal agency (MedicareJ has rated our hospital as substandard not only in several areas but overall. POA is having the CEO explain at the next meeting on the 20th.

[graciegirl]

Husband had outpatient surgery last week at Munroe/Florida/Advent Hospital in Ocala. Can't say enough good about it.

[vintageogauge]

I pray that I never have to go to TV hospital. Being near Leesburg and I-75 I would hope to go to Leesburg or Ocala depending on the circumstances, not ever having to go would be the best route.

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by Jazuela

You can basically blame Medicare for that. Medicare is known to pay far less than any health insurance. Quality begets quality. Offer greater pay, you'll attract greater faculty and staff. If the best you can do is a 90% Medicare payout, then you'll get the bottom 10% of the quality care in return.

The four star hospital I use in Newport Beach accepts Medicare, no problem. Hoag (health network - Wikipedia)

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by Jazuela

You can basically blame Medicare for that. Medicare is known to pay far less than any health insurance. Quality begets quality. Offer greater pay, you'll attract greater faculty and staff. If the best you can do is a 90% Medicare payout, then you'll get the bottom 10% of the quality care in return.

That doesn’t explain why hospitals in urban depressed areas that often don’t get reimbursement for “charity care” receive four and five star ratings.

One of the items that received a low rating was patients perception of received care. Had nothing to do with insurance. Other items such as surgical complications and infection rates are included and not based on insurance payouts. Time waiting in ER was far greater than national average.
There are other areas of the country with large senior populations such as Sun City that support highly rated hospitals.
I suggest using Google and using the CMS (Medicare-Medicare) website to compare TVRH with nearby hospitals and examine specific criteria used and how the hospital rated.
Blaming “Medicare” without examining the facts does nothing to elevate the standard of care in our community. We deserve better.

Really wish Dbussone was still here to comment on this.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Jazuela

You can basically blame Medicare for that. Medicare is known to pay far less than any health insurance. Quality begets quality. Offer greater pay, you'll attract greater faculty and staff. If the best you can do is a 90% Medicare payout, then you'll get the bottom 10% of the quality care in return.

I would like to know how any full service hospital could survive if they didn't accept Medicare. And, Medicare pays out a lot more than people pay into it. That is why Medicare is broke and the Government has a 22 trillion dollar debt. So, should we force people to pay more money into Medicare, or borrow more money and go deeper into debt?

[Bambi]

I think that we should demand accountability from the CEOs. The buck stops there. Whether it is lack of nursing and ancillary personnel, inadequate training, operational policies, lack of quality reviews, or a host of other negative conditions, there needs to be a thorough investigation and immediate mitigation of the deficits of the hospital. We might be interested in the monetary payouts to the administrators.
The citizens of this community have supported this hospital with financial donations and volunteering their time.
We depend on this hospital for our well being and in some ways it has failed us.
I hope that the CEO can provide some insight rather than excuses at the POA meeting on the 20th. at Laurel Manors. I believe he had either been a no show or cancelled his appearance at another meeting but promised his attendance this time.

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by Jazuela

You can basically blame Medicare for that. Medicare is known to pay far less than any health insurance. Quality begets quality. Offer greater pay, you'll attract greater faculty and staff. If the best you can do is a 90% Medicare payout, then you'll get the bottom 10% of the quality care in return.

Are you suggesting the hospitals have differing levels of caretakers dependent upon what insurance carrier the patient has???

That hospitals or medical care staff providers capability/quality wise based on the the patients insurance?

Do they separate us at the door? Medicare to the left and all others to the right. Bozo providers to the left....5 star providers to the right?

All the above are rhetorical....no answer required.

Food for thought....maybe.

[Nucky]

Originally Posted by fw102807

Really wish Dbussone was still here to comment on this.

GOLFING EAGLE, Along with dbussone helped me decide on my insurance and the hospital to use.

I would never ever never go against anyone's personal perceived experience with anything to do with Health Care as I'm not qualified. I believe the people who have had a bad experience actually did to a point.

I had an Operation at a Hospital in NJ which was rated poorly but everyone from work and neighbors all had nothing but good things to say.

My experience was PERFECT, the man in the next bed's experience did not match mine as his expectations were unreasonable. You can't verbally abuse the Staff and expected to be treated well its human nature. He even got P.Oed that I was getting better treatment than him. Please and Thank You and Common Courtesy go a long way.

Our only experience with The Villages Hospital was from helping a gentleman that we are friends within The Villages. One time from the Emergency Room to a room in record time, like a Nascar Pit Stop. The next time I was there almost 10 hours before he got a room. What are you going to do they were busy and others had problems that needed immediate attention. Our friend was calm and I started to get worked up so I do know what people are telling us about in their posts.

I'm going to bet mine and my wife's life on the advice of my Primary Doctor, dbussone, and GE from a few years back. The last two men had no dog in the fight and were good enough to give me their opinion which I trusted then & now.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

People responding to me are missing the point.

This hospital caters *primarily* to medicare patients. It means this hospital has less money to pay its employees. It means this hospital is less likely to attract top-notch doctors, who typically don't rely *primarily* on medicare to pay their higher salaries, because medicare WILL NOT pay that much. The higher quality doctors will work in environments where they can recoup the loss from low-paying medicare, by having more patients who don't rely on medicare, than they have patients who do.

If you have MOSTLY medicare financing the existence of a hospital, you will have less revenue because medicare does not pay the salaries that attract better quality doctors and staff and faculty.

Most hospitals accept medicare patients, but ALSO have mostly patients who aren't on medicare, whose normal health insurance pays out more. This results in better equipment, better facilities, more staff, higher quality doctors, a better doctor : patient ratio, a better nurse : patient ratio, a higher quality of care score.

The Villages Hospital is dealing PRIMARILY with substandard revenue. You can't expect good service from substandard revenue.

Nowhere did I mention, hint, or even suggest that other hospitals don't accept medicare and are therefore better. Nowhere did I suggest, hint, or imply that hospitals that do accept medicare are substandard.

Again - I was very specific. THIS hospital - that relies PRIMARILY (not exclusively, not equally to any other, but primarily) on medicare to foot the bill - will - because it's medicare primarily footing the bill - attract faculty, staff, physicians, who are willing to accept much lower pay than hospitals that do not rely *primarily* on medicare to foot the bill.

It's basic economics. If you want to prove me wrong, donate $28 million to TVH to improve their staffing and quality of care issues. You'll see a better caliber of staff seeking to work there, and you'll see a higher quality of care.