Villages Hospital
 

Eleven Urologist associated with Advanced
Urology Institute announced this week that they will no longer work out of the Villages Hospital ? This is a real inconvenience to patients who will now have to go to Leesburg RMC or Ocala and Munroe RMC for any hospital services.
Has The Villages Hospital standards fallen so low that these 11 Drs. refuse to work there ?

Could it be a $ issue?

Hospitals Grant "Privileges" to Doctors
Each hospital has its own set of rules, regulations and policies defining how doctors can admit patients, and how they're allowed to treat patients. Usually the rules require doctors to submit a written application for their privileges. The application contains extensive information about the doctor's education, license and experience.
Different categories of privileges exist. These include:
Admitting privileges - allow a doctor to admit a patient to the hospital
Courtesy privileges - allow a doctor to occasionally admit or to visit and treat patients in the hospital
Surgical privileges - to perform surgery in the hospital's operating room or outpatient surgery area
Often the decision of whether to grant privileges to a doctor is a group decision made by a hospital's credentialing committee. The committee thoroughly reviews the doctor's application and conducts an in-person interview, then votes on whether to accept the doctor.

Hospitals Can Impose Residency Requirements
Hospitals can have strict requirements that a doctor must follow before they're considered for privileges. These can include requirements that the doctor reside within a certain distance from the hospital to be sure that the doctor can arrive quickly when needed.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out. And it's not about the money !!!

My brother has an urogloist with this practice and coincidentally so do I. Our respective doctors referred us both to Munroe Hospital in Ocala for our needed hospitalizations. Both urologist are well respected in their fields. The hospital staff at Munroe was outstanding ( attentive, friendly warm caring...).

The Viilages hospital missed an obvious diagnosis when I went to the emergency room. My internist told me if I had a need to go to TVH for emergency care again call their emergency number and they will have a doctor from their staff meet me at TVH

One has to wonder what is going on when Moffit backs away from TVH, Advance Urology and 13,000+ residents are dropped . Why is it so many residents complain?

Would you see a PX that is not "your" PX and do it pro-bono?

The reality is that if you want "Privileges" at a facility, you also have to take "call". Sometimes (but not often), a "call" PX (most often in ED/ICU/CCU) will become a practice or provider "customer". But, in the local demographic of some hospitals - a high percentage of the PX base already has a provider who either - does not have privileges at that facility, or is out of state. Add to that the fact that Medicare more often than not does not pay for many high level specialty consults.

We can thank our government for what is going on - and this is for all specialties. If you think that YOUR Medicare is cut - you should see what is going on with the reimbursement rate on the backside. Simply, the cost of doing business is far too high.

What we all are going to see is more and more "Outpatient Surgery Centers" that are either privately owned by the providers, and more so that are partnered with companies such as HealthSouth. These facilities have a different billing structure than hospital billing (HCFA / UB92) and are far more profitable (and lower bills to the insurance companies).

I don't know. But as usual I will point this out. The hospital was built by the developer who tried to get Moffitt to come here for the Cancer Center. They did and left. The Villages does not own the hospital corporation, just the building, but The Morse family have tried to lobby for good medicine to come to us. So far the good medicine doesn't want to apparently.

The Hospital is part of the Central Florida Health Alliance. Central Florida Health

False : The provider simply has to be available within a certain time frame. Many providers will have rentals/hotels for "call" periods. Many pre-diem folks will even live out of state - get credentialed and make tens of thousands on contract work. While more common at L1's (and TVH is not L1) I know for a fact that is the case with some providers at TVH.

While "maybe" residency requirements "may" be a good thing (I think they would be). When it comes to specialty services (such as Uro), the relationship is not the same as a PCP MD/DO.

Your examples, while "kinda" correct are more examples of a PCP type of provider getting "privileges" - but from there - most facilities toss them and use their staff hospitalists to "manage" care.

so far no facts only assumptions. perhaps they left to form their own group elsewhere....just another 'guess'

Rest assured, my assertion is NOT at all a "guess".

Providers who are not reimbursed for treatment soon no longer provide the treatment. And, yes - I am intimately familiar with the situation.

So far I've got zero out of this thread - "where's the beef"?

Might have something to do with the types of surgery these doctors are now doing using more expensive robotic types of equipment. Having a concentration of similar procedures at fewer hospitals makes sense financially. Think the point that The Villages Hospital and Leesburg Hospital are both part of Central Fl Health Alliance is a factor. Leesburg hospital is the hospital that open heart surgeries are performed while the Villages Hospital does heart caths they don't do heart surgeries there.

You are quite close. There are a few schools of thought. While the reimbursement for some R2D2 facilities can be lower...you can stack PX and have a very full day.

Then, there are some (Ortho) for instance...why use R2D2 (diVinci or what ever) - when you can go in and have a "longer" PT base with your in practice PT Center....

In the case of AUI, there is nothing that is not above board. While a number of the MD's do have "their own" surgery center, a very small percentage of the providers make use of the center(s) due to geography and scheduling.

Since The Villages Regional Hospital is not associated with The Villages or TV Health, except by location, maybe they should change the name?

These doctors are
Smart and
Their patients are fortunate. The Villages Hospital is the worst excuse for a hospital that I have ever seen. They did serious damage to my husband two years ago. Now we drive to Ocala Regioanl Medical Center for anything that requires a hospital. That place is first class.

That would certainly help minimize confusion.

I received the same notice. It should be noted that this Urology Group will continue to treat at Leesburg Regional Medical Center which is owned by Central Florida Health, as is The Villages Regional Hospital.

The villages Hospital ER is a Horror story. My wife was sent home from there as nothing wrong and wound up in ICU for 7 days less that 48 hours later all total a three weak hospital sta and now in Rehab in patient care. Septic infection with many related issues

There are horror stories told about almost every hospital in the world. I worked at a wonderful hospital in Michigan and there were some that had horror stories to tell.
I have been admitted to the Villages Hospital about 7 times. A couple were for more than a week. I have gone through emergency there 3 or 4 times. I always had wonderful care by caring people.

I volunteer at the hospital and am in patient rooms once a week. I can say that nearly 98% of patients that I talk with about their hospital experience have very positive things to say. In almost all cases, they say that the nursing care is excellent. Most of the problems relate to communication with doctors and waiting for doctors to make their rounds and do discharges. There have been long waits in the emergency room but they added staff and I am getting better reports about the ER.

...

Amazing how posts veer from the original topic. Advanced Urology Doctors no longer doing procedures at TVRH.

And if you read this thread...you will know why.

Actually, you will know nothing..:shocked:

You could have just said you didn't know why they were leaving.

:boom::bigbow::bigbow:

From observation I'm comfortable saying that the new addition and a few added nurses will not resolve the problem of waiting. The issue is the number of emergency room physicians on duty at any given time. They are the bottleneck.


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My wife is currently seeing one of the docs at Advanced Urology (with whom we are really pleased). On Friday he explained to us that the issue that influenced their decision was "on call" requirements. Given where the docs in the practice live, mostly in Ocala or south of Leesburg, it had become very difficult for them to cover "on call." Docs would often have to travel from Leesburg to TV then on to Munroe and back again to cover consults. This made it hard on them and difficult to give the time that the consults required. Now the docs who live south will cover Leesburg and those north will cover Munroe. He didn't indicate that there was any particular problem with TV Hospital and actually had some positive things to say about it. It all came down to helping the docs meet the needs of their patients while not running ragged themselves. By the way, my wife required a procedure that was done at Monroe and we were pleased with the services there. Advanced plans to continue providing services in their Villages office.

OhioBuckeye
 

Well I only had to deal with TV hospital one time & it wasn't a pleasant one. To make a long story short, it was within 1 or 2 months after we moved here. I had a 5 way heart bypass just 2 months before in Ohio. I had a terrible bone spur in my mouth on my Torri when the tried to put tubes in me. I check in at emergency waiting room & my heart Dr told me to be very careful about not getting the flu, well needless to say the waiting room was full & 3 people had puke buckets sitting next to their chairs. When my wife & I tried to explain to the receptionist about the problem she said sorry theirs nothing I can do about it,well after 3 hrs. & 20 mins. of waiting I got in & the Dr. on call to put it short didn't do nothing. We got a bill in the mail for $3,200. Well needless to say my wife just about had kittens. She took all the paper work, bills from TV, cautions what not to do & things to be careful about. Then we somehow got to talk to the CEO of TV hospital. She said she would take care of it, because there was some issues that she (CEO) said was a NO-NO the hospital did. WE GOT ANOTHER BILL FROM TV HOSPITAL, BALANCE $0,000. If I have any heart issues I'm going to Ocala or Leesburg. Besides TV does have a heart ward, to treat heart issues.

OhioBuckeye
 

BINGO, I fact this might be the reason that I might move out of TV in a couple of yrs. As much as I like it here, I've had a 5 way heart bypass & I want to be close to a hospital that can treat me if I have heart issues. My health & life is worth more than having a little fun!

Suspicious Withdrawal
 

My husband was a urology patient at TVH a while back. When we came to the emergency room at 1:00 a.m., he was in agony. No one seemed able to give him the attention he needed--not the ER doctor, his PA, or the nurses. Our urologist is a member of the Advanced Urology group, and he is excellent. By the time the hospital called him, and because he lives in Ocala, he didn't get down here until 5:00 a.m. When he arrived and was ready to do the necessary procedure, the Emergency Room staff couldn't find the urology cart! Meanwhile, my husband was still in agony. While the staff was searching all over the ER for the cart, the doctor became visibly upset. It was easy to see his disgust and frustration. He eventually was able to help my husband in spite of the incompetence, but I have a feeling this was only one of many such incidents between Advanced Urology and TVH.

If you or a loved one were suffering a cardiac event or another medical emergency here in TV , which hospital would you ask to be transported to by the EMT`s . Say within a 30 minute trip by ambulance door to door ? Thanks ,

For cardiac, I'd suggest Leesburg. They are rated as having the 3rd best open heart program in FL. Where I'd go for other emergencies depends on the type of problem. You can get to TVRH by ambulance, get stabilized, and go by helicopter to any number of really good hospitals in Tampa, Orlando, and Gainesville.


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Amazing the different experiences that people have had at the various hospitals around The Villages. I had 2 surgeries performed by one of the Doctors at AUI (Dr. Taub) at Munroe in Ocala, and at the time I was in danger of suffering total kidney failure and being on dialysis the rest of my life.

During the first surgery I had an RN come in to give me my medications; I looked at the little cup and saw 3 tablets; I asked why there were three, and she replied that I take 3 of them a day, so there they were. I advised her that yes, I take three a day, but 8 hours apart. This was a heart medication; it probably would have killed me if I took all three at once.

The second surgery was to remove part of one kidney due to a tumor. At that time, it was critical to keep my bladder drained and not allow urine to back up and further damage my kidneys; the Doctor told the nursing staff to be sure to keep the urine collection bags emptied to avoid back pressure on my kidneys ... the only reason they were emptied is because my wife stayed overnight and did it herself, as the nurses did not. The next morning my Doctor appeared, saw the bags full (as my wife had fallen asleep) and went down the hall to the nurses station screaming at them.

I have been in The Villages Regional Hospital several times for other problems. During every one of those hospital stays I received excellent care and could not have been happier with the care and the facilities. I have been to Leesburg Hospital once, and while the care was good, the facilities were nowhere as comfortable or as nice as TVRH.

Based on my experiences, I would choose TVRH every time over Munroe or Leesburg unless I needed open heart surgery, which TVRH does not presently perform ... in which case I would go to Leesburg.

I think so much of the Urologist I have at AUI that I will go wherever he wishes should I need additional surgery, but I will be very unhappy to have to go to Munroe again.

Diving time from my house to Ocala Regional (level 3 trauma) is 35 minutes.

I have had only one personal experience at TV hospital - enough to NEVER go there again while I am conscious. I wound up in Orlando Regional during my experience and received excellent care and results. Have also had good results at Ocala Regional and Florida Hospital in Orlando.

I have also been personally involved in two other events occurring in TV hospital. Fortunately neither resulted in death although both were close calls. IMO in each case the patient nearly died due to poor communication and/or treatment.

Ask around and listen to as many personal experiences as you can. Some will be good and some will be bad but try to be as informed as possible before choosing TV hospital.

No Da Vinci Robotic Machine??
 

Severalyears ago, a well-qualified local urologist told me that among other reasons he wouldn't practice at TVRH because they refused to purchase a DaVinci robotic machine for the use of surgeons for robotic surgery. The DaVinci is commonly used by urologists for prostate cancer surgery.

I thought I'd read in one of the local publications that they now have this capability. I could be wrong...maybe someone else can clarify though.

You are correct.

They positively have the robotic surgery for prostate surgery.

Saved Twice
 

As for cardiac: My husband was saved twice by those at TVRH, once when he was already a patient in for observation. He went into cardiac arrest and it took 10 minutes to get him stabilized. The Code Blue Team was there in SECONDS, not minutes. As soon as he was stabilized, he was taken to the cath lab and received two new stents where another had blocked. Dr. Williams told me at the time he had no idea if my husband would even survive the procedure but that he would do his best to save him. That was in 2013 and he is still here. When he had his first heart attack, he would never have survived the trip to Leesburg or Ocala.

Things happen ANYWHERE, but that does not mean that a hospital is "bad". Many, many of the same doctors practice both in Leesburg and TVRH (Dr. Williams for one). Some of them even have privileges in other hospitals as well. Dr. Williams placed a stent for me this year in TVRH. I was going to be scheduled in Leesburg for the next week, but he had an opening in TVRH for the next day; smooth as glass and back on my feet in no time.

Just as an aside: Someone from our church had to spend a couple of days in the ER this month in Leesburg because the hospital was full. Sorry, but it is not just TVRH that has problems and overloads.