An Interesting Week at Work in Healthcare

 It was an interesting week in that our (Dale's and mine) employer went through a reduction in force.  About 1.2 % of the workforce was let go and it was very difficult to see people that you have worked with just be sent away. 

We work for a hospital system and the reason behind the reduction in force was that Medicare is cutting the reimbursement to the provider's by 10%.  Our main insurer will also be cutting payments by 2.5% as they have an underwriting problem, i.e.  they don't take in as money much as they are paying out. 

I know that most people think that health care providers are overpaid and that hospitals and clinics are wasteful.  They think that until a family member or they end up in the hospital.

Health care reimbursement will never be as good again as it is right now.  Insurers and the government programs have a percentage cut built in so that every year in the future, they will pay out less. We can count on less payment for a procedure every year.  Rural states have it worse as they get paid even less that "urban" states.  The same procedure is reimbursed $3600 in Fargo, North Dakota, $5600 in New York City and $6200 in Washington, DC.

Are there fewer patients?  No, as we can predict that health care needs will increase as baby boomers age and require more care.

I'm sorry to see some good people lose their job but I guess, I'm grateful that I still have mine.