re: #537 lawhawk

To get back to the subject of ER as a health care option for a moment.

As I’ve indicated a few days back, I’ve been dealing with medical issues for family and friends that have bordered on life-threatening. That means I’ve become intimately aware of the medical treatments and costs associated with ER.

ER health costs are far higher than those when cases could be diverted and treated at other facilities. Hospitals have long recognized this and many have shifted those kinds of cases to clinics or acute care facilities (hospital run, but less costly than an ER). ER facilties have higher costs due to the level of care they are expected to handle. You need specific personnel, levels of care and tech, and if you flood an ER with a bunch of flu cases (or other relatively mild ailments that would normally be treated by a personal physician, you’re diverting care/doctors/nurses/equipment/tests from those who actually need those items and care.

And it becomes a reimbursement issue when you have people not coming in with insurance, let alone a capacity to pay.

A basic ER visit (uncomplicated) can run a couple hundred bucks - including the cost of a doctor to review your situation, the nurses, and exclusive of any tests that might be done. That’s unsustainable - and even Romney realized that when he was governor in MA, when he instituted his state’s version of what later became Obamacare.

If everyone had their medical history on a a thumb driver —on in the Cloud, woudn’t an ER or Urgent Care visit be cheaper. No unecessary tests —if an xray or blood test was run recently, the Triage doctor would have no need to retest. If there is a history of anything, it would be apparent and the Triage doctor would be able to make judgments almost like a family doctor that knows your history.

???