Eegore
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SuzukiSavage.com Rocks!
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"oh, and you're dreaming if you think anyone is actually going to address the actual cost of healthcare. they LOVE charging $10 for a Halls Cough drop.
it's just another way to divide us into a class based society, the haves and the have-nots, you know, the noble and the serfs just like the GOOD OLD DAYS! "
I worked in a medical center for over a decade. People discuss cost of healthcare all the time.
I talk to people all the time about the "$10 cough drop" by using the "warm blanket" as an example. For instance a warm blanket costs about $35, which is absolutely ridiculous. Here's why:
Regulation prohibits the medical center to launder on-site so laundry is contracted. A few dollars for that, and a few dollars for the distribution tech, the laundry staff member, the contract supervisor and the accounts personnel to get that blanket to and from a laundry service.
Regulation prohibits the blanket from being brought directly from the loading dock/receiving to the department as the blanket must have a verifiable sanitation record thus creating a chain of custody of sorts. A few dollars for sterile processing to verify safety, log and place the blanket into the approved racks, a few dollars for the central stores staff to prepare it for distribution.
Central Distribution requests blankets be stocked in the ED as the system shows low stock. Laundry sends it to the ED where it undergoes another sanitation verification. A few dollars for the Central Distribution tech, the auditor, and the laundry staff and sterile processing verification.
The blanket is taken to a patient, a few dollars for the triage staff to check off on the blanket temperature, a few dollars for Biomed staff to calibrate and check daily the blanket warmer temp, a few dollars for the RN charting that the blanket was "clean and at safe temp" and a few dollars for all that to be collected compiled and stored for audit.
All of this because someone sued over a dirty blanket, and someone else sued over a too-hot blanket that burned them.
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