JustCare

Tag: Nurses

  • Hospitals forced to pay nurses a lot more

    Hospitals forced to pay nurses a lot more

    This is what you call hubris. Healthcare Dive reports that the American Hospital Association is complaining to the White House that nurses are demanding higher wages. And, because there’s a nursing shortage, the hospitals are forced to pay their nurses more.

    If you’ve been reading Just Care, you know that hospitals largely have monopoly power to set exorbitant rates for their services, driving up our health insurance premiums considerably. But, hospital staff largely have not benefited from those higher rates. Hospitals spend the money on executive pay and other line items. For-profit hospitals can generate big profits for shareholders.

    The hospitals have no problem requiring patients to pay exorbitant prices for their care, but they do not like the fact that they now must pay their nurses more for their services. For those readers who are fortunate enough not to have been hospitalized in the last few years, get this: New York University hospital recently charged $400,000 to reset two broken bones in a young person’s leg. Max was in the hospital for all of two days. His insurer bargained the charges down to $200,000. $200 000 to reset a broken bone and spend two days in hospital!!!! Insanity.

    Still, the American Hospital Association claims that the nurses’ advocates are  “exploiting” the staffing shortages. Really? It’s the pot calling the kettle black. Members Congress should be standing with their constituents to regulate health care prices.

    Rather, some in Congress appear to be standing with the hospitals, claiming the nurses’ pay is inflated. The feeling is that the hospitals are already under too much pressure because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Of course, this is a setup for the hospitals to demand even higher rates from insurers. Since health insurers profit more the more they pay hospitals, it’s not unlikely that the hospitals will get the higher rates they demand.

    The nursing shortage is affecting nursing homes and long-term care facilities as well.

    The only solution is for Congress to regulate hospital and doctor rates for everyone, as well as the price of prescription drugs. But, that does not seem to be happening any time in the foreseeable future.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Doctors and nurses reconsider their professions

    Coronavirus: Doctors and nurses reconsider their professions

    The novel coronavirus has taken a huge toll on the lives of millions of Americans, particularly health care workers and other essential workers. Kaiser Health News reports on how some doctors and nurses are responding to this pandemic. The news is not pretty; it’s easy to imagine a future with robots as healthcare providers.

    Many nurses are fighting back against low-wage jobs that put them at risk. Their small hospital salaries are not enough to make the risk of catching COVID-19 worth it. They are leaving these steady hospital jobs for far higher paying jobs that guarantee them the personal protection they need.

    And, they are taking jobs that pay thousands of dollars a week to provide care to people in their homes. Working as private pay nurses, they can earn more than $6,000 a week. In some cases, they can earn $10,000 a week. By the hour, their base rate is $95. But, their jobs are not secure and do not come with health insurance.

    These traveling nurses will go wherever they are needed. And, their ranks are rising rapidly, now at 50,000. Just two years ago, there were 31,000.

    The result is a hospital crisis. And, greater health inequities. The hospitals in poor areas generally can’t afford to attract the nurses they need. Rural hospitals and public hospitals in urban areas are finding themselves understaffed. They don’t have the health care workers they need to provide care to COVID-19 patients.

    And, because COVID-19 is surging throughout the country, there are few areas with an extra supply of nurses.

    The good news is that finally nurses are commanding fair wages. The bad news is that some of them now command wages that most hospitals and individuals cannot afford.

    At the same time, thousands of doctors’ offices have been forced to close. With COVID-19, many primary care doctors saw a sharp drop in their patient volume. With that, came a major loss of revenue. As it is these doctors tend to earn a lot less than specialists, averaging less than $200,000 a year.

    Consequently, there are too few primary care doctors. This new wave of closures is only making it more difficult for people to get needed care.  It puts many of them with chronic conditions at increased health risk.

    Pre-novel coronavirus, we had a shortage of some 15,000 primary care doctors. According to the Health Services Research Administration, about one in four Americans live in an area where there is a a shortage of health care workers.

    One survey found that about one in twelve doctors’ offices have closed as a result of the novel coronavirus. That’s about 16,000 offices. The doctors say they do not have the financial means to remain open.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Lack of timely data jeopardizes public health

    Coronavirus: Lack of timely data jeopardizes public health

    In a new report, Sins of Omission: How Government Failures to Track Covid-19 Data Have Led to More Than 1,700 Health Care Worker Deaths and Jeopardize Public Health, National Nurses United (NNU) underscores the need to reform our health care system. Federal and state governments do not have systems in place to protect  the health and well-being of Americans, much less our nation’s nurses and other health care workers.

    NNU reports that more than 1,700 health care workers have tested positive for COVID-19. Of those, at least 213 registered nurses have died unnecessarily. The federal government does not have the systems in place to keep health care workers safe in a pandemic. Hospitals and other health care companies are not reporting infection rates or deaths accurately or in real time. Workplaces have not been safe.

    Without reliable and timely information, there is no way to respond effectively to the novel coronavirus pandemic. We need to know where the virus is, we need the resources to protect people in those areas, and we need to know what is working to contain the spread of the virus. The NNU report explains that rather than tracking this data, federal and state governments are hiding it or ignoring it. They are also playing with available data to mislead the public.

    Federal and state governments are not requiring health care facilities to turn over mortality or infection rate data. Of course, these facilities have no interest in so doing. It could tarnish their images.

    Fewer than one in three states are providing infection data for health care workers. Without good data, there is no way to understand the breadth of the pandemic. There is no way to respond to it as warranted.

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has only required nursing homes to provide mortality and infection rate data for health care workers. That data is publicly available on its web site. Hospitals are not required to collect this data.

    The Trump administration has kept a lot of the COVID-19 data hidden at the department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It has traditionally been kept by the CDC, but the administration transferred it to HHS. The Trump administration is interfering in scientific work and failing to release accurate public health information. To be sure, it is not coming up with a strong national plan to keep the novel coronavirus from spreading.

    The CDC must be charged with tracking this data and given the resources and tools to do the job that is needed. Data should be independent and not played with for political or business reasons.

    Specifically, NNU calls for:

    • Daily reporting of data (as well as cumulative totals) on diagnostic testing and case counts at national, state, and county/local levels.
    • Daily reporting and cumulative totals of data on health care worker infections and deaths at an establishment level, such as the specific hospital or business.
    • Data on symptomatic cases must be reported at national, state, and county/local levels (influenza-like illness and Covid-like illness).
    • Daily reporting of data on hospitalizations and deaths must be reported at national, state, and county/local levels.
    • Hospital capacity data must be reported at national, state, and county/local levels; must be updated in real time; and must include total and available hospital beds by type (e.g., ICU, medical/surgical, telemetry, etc.), staffing, health care worker exposures and infections, and nosocomial (hospital-acquired) patient infections.
    • Data on the stock and supply chain of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies must be reported at national, state, and county/local levels.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • How much are drug companies paying nurses?

    How much are drug companies paying nurses?

    Not that long ago, Congress required pharmaceutical and medical device companies to disclose the value of their cash and gifts to physicians. Beginning in 2020, StatNews reports that Congress may require these drug and device companies to disclose how much they are paying nurses and other health care providers.

    If the bi-partisan opioid bill passes, which it looks like it will, pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers will have to make public the amounts they spend on nurse practitioners, including clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists and nurse-midwives, as well as physician assistants. We already know that the drug and device makers spend more than six billion a year on doctors and hospitals for “consulting” services, “speaking fees” and other services. These payments often lead these providers to promote the companies’ products and otherwise look favorably upon the companies.

    We do not have a good handle on how much the drug and device companies spend on nurses and other health care providers. Often it is not the physicians but the nurse practitioners who fill out the prescriptions and make decisions about the drugs and other medical products patients use. So, it is likely that they do receive cash and other gifts from industry.

    Senator Claire McCaskill tried to include a provision in the opioid bill that also would have required the drug and device companies to disclose the amount of money they contribute to advocacy groups. Unfortunately, that provision is not in the bill before Congress. This information would be helpful to know. Many advocacy groups that might appear to be independent, such as most of the large disease organizations, actually receive significant support from industry.

    Pro Publica has a tool that allows you to learn whether your physician takes money from the drug industry, Dollars for Docs.  Kaiser Health News has a tool that allows you to learn about some of the patient advocacy groups that take money from the drug industry, Pre$cription for Power.

    Here’s more from Just Care: