Healthcare Update Satellite — 06-17-2014

Read more healthcare-related news from around the web on my other blog at DrWhitecoat.com Oklahoma University Medical Center joins the growing ranks of hospitals that are requiring patients to pay a fee of $200 to be treated for non-emergency complaints. That amounts to an estimated 40% of OU’s emergency department visits. If patients do not want to pay for non-emergent care, they will be referred to nearby urgent care clinics. This “triage out” protocol will eventually become a standard throughout US emergency departments. Count on it. Emergency physician writes about how she almost diagnosed Lou Gehrig’s Disease in the emergency department, then learned that the real diagnosis wasn’t quite so ominous. Holy Cross Hospital puts bowl of Percocet tablets in waiting room. Wait times suddenly decrease to record lows and there hasn’t been a complaint about the ED in months. Florida emergency physician put on probation, nearly loses license, and has to pay $5000 fine after relying on reports of physician assistant’s assessment of a patient’s finger injury rather than evaluating the patient and making the diagnosis himself. The patient returned the following day and required a finger amputation. Keep in mind that you may not be covered by your malpractice insurance policy when an injury results from your supervision of other health professionals. Your agreement to supervise could be construed as a contractual agreement or as an adminis...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs