Why aren't employers choosing your hospital?

by Kathleen Bartholomew Revolutions that change the course of history do not begin in thunderous explosions of action covered by the media. Revolutions that changed governments, that gave women the right to vote, that spurred the civil rights movement, that changed the belief system of a nation ... these revolutions began as seeds of conversations between like-minded individuals who said, "Something must be done. We must do it ourselves." So it was that in 2012, Wal-Mart announced it would foot the entire bill for certain bundled treatments--heart, spine, and transplant surgeries--if its 1.2 million employees would go to one of six designated health care organizations for that treatment. Now, other Fortune 500 companies have signed on as well, and the list is growing by thousands every day (Emerick). Why? Because quality varies so greatly between hospitals and healthcare providers that outcomes are significantly different and corporations are tired of footing the bill. Because many hospitals remain oblivious to the that they even perform unnecessary operations Because error is profitable for hospitals, but not for the people paying the bill. The average surgical complication generates an additional $39,000 for hospitals (April 2012 JAMA) Another foreshadowing example is Maine, where state employees have their $250 inpatient copay waived if they use high-performing hospitals--a simple move that has driven significant quality improvement there. As Buckminster...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs