How Will Healthcare Change After Coronavirus Covid-19

Doctors, hospitals, state and federal government agencies along with drug and insurance companies have all made concessions to the public during the time of the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. This emergency affects every American so it stands to reason that what follows will too. But will common sense, red tape cutting, sensible changes that benefit patients remain, or be disposed of like so much medical waste? And what about preparations for future outbreaks? Houston based neurologist Dr. Steven Goldstein of the Houston Healthcare Initiative shares his views on this topic with his podcast audience. The podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Libsyn, and on www.houstonhealthcareinitiative.org.

Telemedicine

While remote access to doctors via Internet based communications is nothing new, it was never widely used until the outbreak of the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic. But will patients continue to use this convenience? “It depends on what insurance companies will cover as well as what the regulations are from the state board of medical examiners,” Dr. Goldstein told his listeners. “There are plenty of good reasons to maintain this capability. Remote locations, lack of transportation resources and the reality that sick people are not keen to go to a clinic or doctor’s office whether they have the flu, a stomachache or even the Coronavirus should all help persuade the insurance industry to maintain payments for remote appointments.”

Lessons from the Pandemic – Rapid Strike Force

The speed that a viral outbreak is met with can prevent wider infection. Borrowing from an analogy coined by Bill Gates, Dr. Goldstein compared treatment to fighting a war. “We need a standing army to spring into action when a virus is first found and ready to travel anywhere in the world to go to work,” he said.

LTC-Kryder-E-Van-Buskirk-Commander-of-the-8076th-MASH-in-Kunu-Ri-Korea-November-27 — A medical rapid strike force to battle disease is one of the lessons the healthcare industry and government should apply after the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic. LTC Kryder E. Van Buskirk, Commander of the 8076th MASH in Kunu- Ri, Korea, November 27, 1950. U.S. Army photograph 8A/FEC-50-22795 by CPL Fred A. Rice reprinted with permission.

Dr. Goldstein envisions teams of doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, virologists, and other medical professionals who can very quickly construct field hospitals on the site of the outbreak, isolate and treat the sick people and find treatments for them. “This would be like a ‘Mobile Army Surgical Hospital’ or MASH unit; fully equipped, staffed and right at the front line. The enemy is disease and must be fought aggressively.”

No Excuses

Goldstein thinks that the federal government must put a greater emphasis on public health and do more to keep people from getting sick. “This is not the first epidemic we’ve faced in recent years just the most recent,” Dr. Goldstein said. He described the many recent health crises the world has faced and faces including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, MERS and lately the Coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreak. “There will be no excuse for any lack of preparedness when this happens again, and we know it will happen again.”

About Dr. Steven Goldstein

The goal of Dr. Steven Goldstein and the Houston Healthcare Initiative is to be a catalyst for change in the way Americans receive and pay for medical treatment. To cause change his web site is an aggregator of information, tools, and targets for the reform of the healthcare industry with an emphasis on free market innovation and personal responsibility.

Patients may go to the hospital designated as in network by their insurance, but the doctors who treat them may not be part of that network. This is one of the main reasons for big bills even among those who have health insurance. Patients rarely have any say about who treats them, especially in the case of accidents where they are incapacitated. This is the message that Dr. Steven Goldstein has for podcast listeners this week. The Houston Healthcare Initiative CO-OP podcast can be heard on Soundcloud, Google Play, and iTunes. The podcast and much more information is available from the Houston Healthcare Initiative CO-OP website: www.houstonhealthcareinitiative.org. Or click here to listen:

Unexpected Emergency Room Bills Add To Patient Ills

Wide Awake Nightmare

Imagine leaving the hospital after recovering from an accident, illness or some other unexpected and unwelcome ailment thinking that the worst is over, but then getting a walloping big bill to pay even with really good health insurance. It’s a scenario that plays out ever day and one that respected Houston based neurologist and founder of the Houston Healthcare Initiative CO-OP thinks the public has a right to know.

The out-of-network billing problem exists in part because insurers have sought to rein in costs by shrinking their provider networks and steering patients to less expensive doctors and hospitals. But some specialists and provider groups have deliberately stayed out-of-networks because they can make more money.“This is especially true in emergency rooms, where the patients’ inability to choose their doctors provides a strong incentive for physicians not to cut deals with insurers,” Dr. Goldstein said. “For example, a 2017 study on surprise bills by Yale University researchers reported that one group of emergency room physicians that exited networks to bill as out-of-network providers charged twice as much for care as their ERs used to charge. It’s ridiculously unfair.”

Facts About Bad Surprises

Unwelcome E.R. and hospital bill surprises are not unusual and that is the disappointing part. On average, 16% of inpatient stays and 18% of emergency visits left a patient with at least one out-of-network charge. “Most of those came from doctors offering treatment at the hospital, even when the patients chose an in-network hospital, according to researchers from the Kaiser Family Foundation,” Dr. Goldstein told his audience. “But the news gets worse because the same study found that when a patient is admitted to the hospital from the emergency room, there’s a higher likelihood of an out-of-network charge. As many as 26% of admissions from the emergency room resulted in a surprise medical bill.”

Why We All Tolerate This

When asked about the reasons the public chooses to tolerate this, Dr. Goldstein replied, “the medical and insurance industries have trained us all to think that there is but one choice for us and that is to work with them, exclusively, and that there are no alternatives available for anyone not old enough to get Medicare.” There are alternatives, like the one we have at the Houston Healthcare Initiative CO-OP, but so few are aware of this and other similar organizations that we all simply take and pay for what is available.”

To learn more about the Houston Healthcare Initiative CO-OP please visit the web site atwww.houstonhealthcareinitiative.org