Posted on 12/27/2013 3:01:19 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Hospice patients are expected to die: The treatment focuses on providing comfort to the terminally ill, not finding a cure. To enroll a patient, two doctors certify a life expectancy of six months or less.
But over the past decade, the number of “hospice survivors” in the United States has risen dramatically, in part because hospice companies earn more by recruiting patients who aren’t actually dying, a Washington Post investigation has found. Healthier patients are more profitable because they require fewer visits and stay enrolled longer.
The proportion of patients who were discharged alive from hospice care rose about 50 percent between 2002 and 2012, according to a Post analysis of more than 1 million hospice patients’ records over 11 years in California, a state that makes public detailed descriptions and that, by virtue of its size, offers a portrait of the industry.
The average length of a stay in hospice care also jumped substantially over that time, in California and nationally, according to the analysis. Profit per patient quintupled, to $1,975, California records show.
This vast growth took place as the hospice “movement,” once led by religious and community organizations, was evolving into a $17 billion industry dominated by for-profit companies. Much of that is paid for by the U.S. government — roughly $15 billion of industry revenue came from Medicare last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Last week, as I was stopped at a traffic light, I saw a “scooter” coming toward me from the left. He was traveling on a six-lane road, with traffic. He made a left turn right in front of me, went about 400 yards, then turned into a gas station. I was going to the same station to fill up. When I entered the lot, the scooter was sitting by the door, EMPTY! As I pumped my gas, I observed a 30-something guy come out with two packs of cigarettes, get into the chair, light up and drive away! I wondered if it was even his chair. Maybe he borrowed it from his grandmother. Who’s to stop him!
Odungo’s blue pill
“Hospice was created for the dying, not those who actually might recover.”
My father at 94 had a major heart attack. The doctor said he could die at any moment. Since the hospital wanted us to take him home and we could not care for him we asked for Hospice. In one of his last somewhat conscious moments the Hospice nurse asked him, “Mr. Pearson, do you feel like you’re going to die?” He said, “No.” She shrugged and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.” Since his insurance was still paying the hospital kept him. He died three or four days later.
I was told by a friend whose mother was dying that the Hospice nurse said, “I’m going to ask your mother if she’s dying. If she says no I can’t help you.” This lady had severe Alzheimer’s. When the nurse asked my friend looked at her mother, shook her head yes and said, “Say yes.” And, she did. Her last month or two was relatively comfortable.
As my mother was dying, hospice was a godsend. But, we only had them for two days. Hospice is not supposed to be a months-long ordeal!
This private nurse that we hired has been pushing the idea of hospice for nearly a year. The doctor doesn’t agree, and I’m not pushing it. Mom is perfectly comfortable and well cared for right where she is. I figure the “push” is for money in somebody’s pocket.
Those things cost more than my first brand new car in 1973 (a 350 Chevy Nova 2 door).
You can bet your butt that the ones you see out on them like that likely had the government pay for them.
Of course, I’m sure they get them “FREE”! And, they are wearing them out that much faster by driving them around like a car! They were never intended to be transportion!
You’re right. And by the heft of some of them, they wouldn’t be needing them if they’d walk once in a while.
"Tolerant and compassionate" Obama knows that the most expensive h/care is delivered the last three years of life...so oldsters HAVE to pay more .
Heck, socking Harry w/ a massive increase could even save money. For sure, decrepit Harry will necessitate expensive medical care for diseases of old age including the ones he's being treated for now--- senility, Alzheimer's, dementia, arthritis, osteoarthritis, heart problems, heart attacks, stroke, kidney failure, prostate enlargement, osteoporosis (brittle bones)....etc.
Course, just in case ol' Harry hangs in there, Obamacare's I-PAB kicks in to ration medical care when stubborn old buzzards like Harry insist on getting more healthcare than his lousy $4500 per month entitles him to.
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THIS JUST IN Obama is cutting home healthcare under Medicare---guess he's gotta do something to finance his I-PAB health rationing group (cackle).
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“Some of the stuff they dispense is nothing more than medicinal rat poison.”
If you ever hear them talk about Warfarin, it actually *is* rat poison. In controlled doses it is a blood thinner, I believe.
We called hospice for my mother on 3rd recommendation by doctor to do so. She died in her bed at home the night they first came to see her.
We called hospice for my uncle after several recommendations by doctor, he died less than 1 week after they enrolled him. The hospital pushed him out the door because they did not want him to be there when he died. Believe it was the doctor, not the hospital. He had very widespread cancer. His condition was clearly terminal.
I have mixed emotions about hospice and very bad feelings about most nursing homes. They are the last resort options.
Care of elderly at home by family is the best option if it is possible. No one, will care for family like family.
How perfectly un-PC of you! I love it! I see them riding on them in the store and think, "do you need the scooter because you're so heavy, or, are you so heavy because you use the scooter?"
> As my mother was dying, hospice was a godsend. But, we only had them for two days. Hospice is not supposed to be a months-long ordeal!
Same for me. Last 2 days for both my mother and father-in-law. I suppose here will always be scammers in every industry who ruin it for the others. For me hospice was a godsend and I understand its value now. They also followed up with me to see how I and my wife were coping with their deaths and sent us handwritten notes. I got the distinct impression that the people that they chose for their jobs were mature, sincere, and above average in the compassion department. How can anyone speak ill of that? I guess progressive bean counters without a heart who are young and haven’t experienced the grip of death yet would be my guess. They will pay for the cold hearts later if they don’t see the light. Not everything is about money and being entertained in this life.
“But Harry says that’s OK b/c the increase is “age-related.” “
Harry doesn’t care because he’s somehow made millions as a public servant.
My mother, God Bless Her, before she died used to have me drive her to WalMart to get all the things she needed. Pick her up at my sister’s house and drive the 20 miles to WM.
Even near the end, at 84 she still walked and pushed her own cart. One time as we were walking in the store and I looked at one of the store scooters and pointed it out to her. We both started laughing - a lot.
That poor little seat was worn out and beaten up worse than a week-rented mule. Totally torn up, worn out - by humongous asses that abused it day-in-day-out.
That’s why I said it. There was a doctor here in Atlanta, a supposed oncologist with a degree from Jamaica or somewhere similar, who was arrested for bilking cancer patients.
He was actually using commercial rat poison instead of the medical kind (much more expensive).
<><> "The English Patient" character David Caravaggio, the Canadian spy, uses the cocktail as a method to obtain information from the English patient.
<><> Larry Flynt's memoir, "An Unseemly Man," describes the Brompton Cocktail as the only relief from his incredible pain.
The Brompton cocktail is named after the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England, where it was invented in the late 1920s for patients with tuberculosis. While its use has been rare in the 21st century, it is not entirely unheard of today. It was far more common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Some specifications for variants of Brompton Mixture call for methadone, hydromorphone, diamorphine (heroin), or other strong opioids in the place of morphine; diphenhydramine or tincture of cannabis in place of the chlorpromazine; and/or methamphetamine, amphetamine, dextroamphetamine, co-phenylcaine, methylphenidate or other stimulants in the place of cocaine.
The original recipe for Brompton Mixture also calls for chloroform, cherry syrup to help mask the bitter taste of some of the components, and distilled water in some quantity to dilute the chloroform (hence, chloroform water) and/or to add volume to allow for more precise titration of doses.
But---he doesn't mind the price hike---b/c taxpayers will foot the bill.
Legend has it that once they set foot in Congress, conniving pols never use not even one cent of their own money for ANYTHING---taxpayers foot their bills.
That is exactly what hospice prevents. It ends treatment, other than pain management. It provides the help that many families need in caring for a dying relative. No more ER trips (unless for a broken bone or other acute injury), no more tests, MRI's, scans. It allows the patient to die with dignity in relative comfort, whether at home or in an institutional setting.
Hospitals and doctors were put in a position that in order to be paid by medicare and the insurance companies they had to have a diagnosis (DRG based payment) and they had to keep coming up with a NEW diagnosis. They had to run every diagnostic test to, hopefully for them, come up with something new.
When the docs know that someone is dying, hospice is the most compassionate thing they can recommend. The family and patient can decline and continue the cycle, but the end result is going to be the same.
My mother refused to sign for hospice until three days before death. The hospital was saying they couldn't keep her, the doctor had no further options available (he could not send her home, even with medicare provided equipment and support personnel) but she kept hoping for a miracle. How much more pleasant her last several months would have been had she opted for hospice when it was offered.
I hate to see it being taken over by unscrupulous companies.
Like any government program, there is a whole legion of dogs following the truck hoping some meat falls off.
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