I was reading the Globe this morning and came across an article about the Lahey Clinic exploring a merger with Beth Israel. I have no comment about the hospitals merging. I do have a brief comment (also known as a rant) about one particular quote in the article.
It's nothing new that at for-profit hospitals, the bottom line is making a profit. It concerns me though that at the very basic level of insurance reimbursement, there is going to be another built in pressure whereby medical decisions are driven (in part, at least) by a concern for a profit. As a people, we are prone to making decisions in the short term to safe money that in the long term are devastatingly expensive.
Some insurance companies have become so broken as companies that they are nearly non-functional. These non-functional corporate entities are going to be driving health care decisions? Really?
Let's not be penny wise and pound foolish.
Doctors and hospitals also will be forced to take on more financial risk. If they run over budget in caring for a patient, they can lose money; if they come in under budget, they can turn a profit.
It's nothing new that at for-profit hospitals, the bottom line is making a profit. It concerns me though that at the very basic level of insurance reimbursement, there is going to be another built in pressure whereby medical decisions are driven (in part, at least) by a concern for a profit. As a people, we are prone to making decisions in the short term to safe money that in the long term are devastatingly expensive.
Some insurance companies have become so broken as companies that they are nearly non-functional. These non-functional corporate entities are going to be driving health care decisions? Really?
Let's not be penny wise and pound foolish.
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