[MoeVonB61]

The BEST hospital overall in the this Area is South Lake Hospital in Clermont, FL. They are owned 49% by ORMC, Orlando Regional Medical Center a Level One trauma center.....OH and BTW....I will give you all a little hint. If you go to the ER alone/without your Spouse you will be attended to much faster than if you came together....

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by mrich61

The BEST hospital overall in the this Area is South Lake Hospital in Clermont, FL. They are owned 49% by ORMC, Orlando Regional Medical Center a Level One trauma center.....OH and BTW....I will give you all a little hint. If you go to the ER alone/without your Spouse you will be attended to much faster than if you came together....

All of the overall ratings are worthless. If you have a specific problem you should be looking at the data for that service.

[Hancle704]

Wife was brought to TVRH ER by ambulance at 9:30 PM recently. Elevated BP and complaining of same symptoms of congestive heart failure that she had experienced in past. She was left on a gurney in a hallway in the ER. Tests were ordered and about midnight she was brought to a ER room. More tests were ordered and a doctor came in and before she said much she said she had to take a call. At 2:30 AM I started asking when the doctor would return. At 4:30 AM a nurse came in and stated my wife had CHF and was being admitted. She then suggested that I could leave. It wasn't until noon that my wife was finally brought to a room. She spent several days on 4th floor in observation room before being discharged and sent to a skilled nursing facility for continued treatment. During her stay in the hospital I noticed that there are several corridors in hospital that have all empty rooms. I have now been told that while the hospital has been expanded they have not added staff adequate to meet demand and the result is that folks spend longer periods in the ER and because of that, many folks spend added time in the waiting room. She was seen by cardiologist and internist in the ER while waiting to be sent to a room. As far as I know the ER doctor never returned to see my wife but ordered tests. My disappointment about the hospital is now based on reality that all the expansion has not improved the long ER waits because there does not seem to be enough staff to handle the volume of patients waiting to be admitted.

I agree with other posts that the entire ER department is in real need of a makeover and at a minimum, a good cleaning because it is starting to look like some of the third world hospitals we seen on TV news.

[rjn5656]

our experience with a neighbor last week was lacking to say the least. I will consider other hospitals if and when needed.

[Beachdad]

Will be trying ORMC next time we need a hospital.

[Beachdad]

Sometimes Lake County doesn't have enough ambulances, either. Pretty scary to not have an ambulance available at all for over five minutes! Happened at least 4 times, between October and February.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Beachdad

Sometimes Lake County doesn't have enough ambulances, either. Pretty scary to not have an ambulance available at all for over five minutes! Happened at least 4 times, between October and February.

I am sorry to hear this and I am also skeptical.

I

[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.

[Brendanyc]

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.

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.

[Bogie Shooter]

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.

Probably neither one...............

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Brendanyc

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.

THANK YOU for that explanation. It's very well thought-out and not driven by a particular political bent.

[gap2415]

This is a retirement community. Most emergency and other healthcare is used in the last few years of life. Some say why prolong with expensive healthcare people of late retirement age. Adequate healthcare goes way beyond this issue. It's about pain, suffering, real and normal fear and expectations of adequate and compassionate care. In THIS community with such a high number of elderly, we should be screaming for the best emergency healthcare possible. Perhaps we need sponsors, volunteers and fundraising to boost it but most of all we need talented leadership from the top down. We need to be heard.

[blueash]

Originally Posted by Brendanyc

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.

Simple answer to complex question, but

1. Doctors in areas outside of where the insurance company provides services may not be eligible to join as an in network doctor.

2. Each carrier has its own complex rules for management, formulary, network of labs and consultants, thick contract, rules for claims submissions and appeals, emails, program updates that the doctor must read to stay in compliance. Why would a doctor spend the time and money to join a network when there will be so few patients with that insurance? The tiny incremental increase in patients seen is simply not worth work involved in being accepted then following all that particular carrier's rules. Some would suggest we should go to single national health insurance as an option to get beyond this problem.

[sunnyatlast]

Y'all are conjecturing about understaffing by everyone BUT the contracted corporation that runs the ER at both The Villages and Leesburg Regional hospitals.

And then there are the CEOs and CFOs who pay them!

Job openings in The Villages and Leesburg ERs:
CareerMD | View Listing

And then see how many are needed by just a few other FL hospitals….
http://www.careermd.com/physicians/c...?pid=244447007

You can blame and condemn the "evil, rich" developers all you want, but the developers are not the executive board members who contract, oversee and pay for this mess managed by Central Florida Health Alliance Board:

Board of directors | Central Florida Health Alliance | Leesburg, Florida

.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by blueash

Simple answer to complex question, but

1. Doctors in areas outside of where the insurance company provides services may not be eligible to join as an in network doctor.

2. Each carrier has its own complex rules for management, formulary, network of labs and consultants, thick contract, rules for claims submissions and appeals, emails, program updates that the doctor must read to stay in compliance. Why would a doctor spend the time and money to join a network when there will be so few patients with that insurance? The tiny incremental increase in patients seen is simply not worth work involved in being accepted then following all that particular carrier's rules. Some would suggest we should go to single national health insurance as an option to get beyond this problem.

I can say this. It isn't any of the doctors I know who are suggesting that.