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Is this the SOP protocol in many hospitals?

I will ask a couple of my former co-workers. They seem to be universlly disgusted by the current situation and very willing to share their observations. I have no idea about the rest of the country, but in Washington State it seems to be. And why not? The hospitals are not doing it for free. They charge several hundred dollars for a $10 C-collar... Who knows how much they are marking up the cost of a Covid test. If it costs them $50, my guess would be that the emergency room will charge you $500 or more. It is an easy way to make up for being empty and losing tons of money because of people being afraid to go near them after all of the hype.

When my elderly parents went to pick my sister up, they said that the place still appeared to be half empty. Unfortunately, this happened on the last day of the year and she is having to pay her entire yearly Obamacare co-pay of $2000 for the ambulance ride and visit.

Thanks for sharing this reality.

They seem to be universally disgusted by the current situation and very willing to share their observations. I have no idea about the rest of the country, but in Washington State it seems to be. And why not? The hospitals are not doing it for free. They charge several hundred dollars for a $10 C-collar...

Who knows how much they are marking up the cost of a Covid test. If it costs them $50, my guess would be that the emergency room will charge you $500 or more. It is an easy way to make up for being empty and losing tons of money because of people being afraid to go near them after all of the hype.

Our local hospitals have not accepted the so called walk on local testing results, since late Spring last year. Whispers tell us it was a reliability issue (may have been as the first open testing company is no longer testing in our area as of yesterday.)

Other whispers say follow the money. Big money in doing tests for hospitals/Clinics. So, they do them for the fees.

My better half and smarter one, my wife the retired RN, said that doing Covid tests on anyone being admitted/treated after the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks might be a wise move.

The big FP practice, where she was the lead RN saw most of their real flu cases a week after Thanksgiving to about Valentine day. Our area flu advice at that time was to start giving the flu shots the first week in December.