M any of us in and out of health care discuss the high costs associated with it. Insurance premiums, hospital bills, physician bills and the like. Yes it is expensive. From a business model it has never made sense to me why anyone would think health care was a good idea. A business that has a customer base that doesn't want to use the services that are being provided and when they have to they can't afford what the organization is selling. Is it any wonder why so many hospitals are having financial problems?
Last evening an elderly man came to the hospital by advanced life support ambulance, the local fire department. It was reported that his wife found him on the floor at home and his speech was noted to be slurred. When the patient arrived at the ER he indeed was noted to have slurred speech, but did not have any other neurological deficits. His medical history was significant for being an insulin dependent diabetic which he said was in poor control. The patient when asked about alcohol consumption emphatically denied any use due to his diabetes. Of note there was an odor about the patient that we then thought was indicative of acetone.
Initially we were concerned that this patient was having a stoke. We were also concerned that he might be in the middle of a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. His blood sugar by a quick finger stick sample was noted to be normal. We were sort of scratching our heads in the beginning.
His CT scan of his head was completely normal. His serum blood sugar was normal as were all the other lab tests. His acetone level was negative. His blood alcohol was 257, over three times the legal limit. When I went back to the patient I gave him another chance to come clean about the alcohol, he again denied drinking any. He spent the next several hours in the emergency department sobering up.
My point with this post is not that the patient lied. Patients come to the emergency department every day and lie about all sorts of things. The point here is that this 79 year old patient because of his drinking cost the health care system a ton of money. When you add the cost of the ambulance that brought him to the hospital which was some $500. The cost of all that work up, lab tests, CT scan, EKG, physician bills and all the rest, his little drunk-ex cost several thousand dollars. Never mind the complete misuse of finite resources that is attached to this story.
This is just one patient in one emergency department on one day of the year. There are tens of thousands of these types of stories that play out across the nation each year that add real cost to our health care system. An unnecessary cost, a wasteful cost that not only cost dollars, but it also directs medical resources away from patients who really need care.
Last evening an elderly man came to the hospital by advanced life support ambulance, the local fire department. It was reported that his wife found him on the floor at home and his speech was noted to be slurred. When the patient arrived at the ER he indeed was noted to have slurred speech, but did not have any other neurological deficits. His medical history was significant for being an insulin dependent diabetic which he said was in poor control. The patient when asked about alcohol consumption emphatically denied any use due to his diabetes. Of note there was an odor about the patient that we then thought was indicative of acetone.
Initially we were concerned that this patient was having a stoke. We were also concerned that he might be in the middle of a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. His blood sugar by a quick finger stick sample was noted to be normal. We were sort of scratching our heads in the beginning.
His CT scan of his head was completely normal. His serum blood sugar was normal as were all the other lab tests. His acetone level was negative. His blood alcohol was 257, over three times the legal limit. When I went back to the patient I gave him another chance to come clean about the alcohol, he again denied drinking any. He spent the next several hours in the emergency department sobering up.
My point with this post is not that the patient lied. Patients come to the emergency department every day and lie about all sorts of things. The point here is that this 79 year old patient because of his drinking cost the health care system a ton of money. When you add the cost of the ambulance that brought him to the hospital which was some $500. The cost of all that work up, lab tests, CT scan, EKG, physician bills and all the rest, his little drunk-ex cost several thousand dollars. Never mind the complete misuse of finite resources that is attached to this story.
This is just one patient in one emergency department on one day of the year. There are tens of thousands of these types of stories that play out across the nation each year that add real cost to our health care system. An unnecessary cost, a wasteful cost that not only cost dollars, but it also directs medical resources away from patients who really need care.