Hospital was a ghost town

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by URY914

On-line health care (virtual doctor visits) has grown more in 8 months than it has in the last 8 years.

CMS(people that run Medicare) are pushing telemedicine hard. I have seen stuff in the last two months that would make your hair turn white. Horribly neglected problems because they were afraid to go to the hospital, people dying alone and afraid because the hospital was not allowing visitors.

I don't think I have ever seen a patient that I did not lay hands on, never. I am a little weird though.

Just had a guy who was in for 4 or 5 days with a spinal surgery. No visitors, pandemic lockdown. Went and saw him every day, brought him fig newtons to counteract the effect of the narcotics, he was happy that worked. I had other people I had to see, so since I was there, I go see him too. Sent me a nice card a few days ago, I get a lot of nice cards. Christmas is coming, so I am fixing to get a bunch of cookies, cakes and sundry holiday sweets.

If only I had some patients that could bake a good pie, is that really so much to ask?

[VillaRicaGA911]

I do medical sales, what is known as capital equipment in the business. X-ray units used mostly in surgery, cover most of the large hospitals in Atlanta GA. Mostly they are ghost towns, patients delaying coming in to the ER for a stroke or heart attack only weeks later and patients not allowed any visitors (including family). We are heading for a massive public health issue with increases in levels of disease or people with chronic illness like diabetes not getting care and then having a limb amputated. The other side of this equation is a 400 plus bed hospital needs patients getting non COVID related care/surgery to pay the bills so they can stay open. I don’t know how many people mistakenly think hospitals are loaded with cash, they are not. What do you think it takes just to pay the light bill in a building that size let alone pay staff? I highly suspect we will all see hospitals in our respective towns shut the doors and lights off permanently in the not distant future.

[tabs]

When a person drops out of Auto Mechanic Trade School they go to Med school and become MDs in LV.

[ckelly78z]

Everyone I know is avoiding elective surgery to prevent the following;
A). covid tested...false positives a real concern
B). no visitors/support
C). safe recovery in a pandemic
D). follow up visits to a medical office
E). getting medications from a pharmacy (out in public)

[onewhippedpuppy]

Same here, and Wichita is a regional hub for all of the rural areas, basically until you get close to Denver. My wife’s family has a PA, two BSNs, a nurse anesthetist, and a radiology tech, all have been either furloughed or had their hours cut at some point this year. I think we will be paying the bill for 2020 for years to come and it will have nothing to do with Covid.

[NY65912]

My niece is the Senior Director of Nursing Operations for the largest hospital group in NYC and the metro area. I saw her this past weekend and asked what was going on in hospitals with Covid.

They are gearing up for the possibility of a big new wave during the winter. Right now it is quiet.

Patients that do come in to the hospital with Covid are for the most part not as acute with the disease and they have much better treatments and protocols for treatment.

I stayed away from the ER in April and went deaf in my right ear because I did not get treatment right away. That was a mistake.

Tobra, if you were my doc I would bring you cheesecake every time I had an appointment.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Just went for a check-up on my shoulder for another cortisone shot. I saw maybe 10 people the entire time I was there. Nice having an elevator all to yourself.

My shoulder is messed up too. Have the cortisone shots done much good for you? They didn't do anything the last time my ortho hit me with them. I'm waiting to see how my brother does with his PRP injections in his elbow. He's on his second injection so I should have some good feedback in a few months.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by cabmando

My shoulder is messed up too. Have the cortisone shots done much good for you? They didn't do anything the last time my ortho hit me with them. I'm waiting to see how my brother does with his PRP injections in his elbow. He's on his second injection so I should have some good feedback in a few months.

Have only had one and it was MAGIC Nick! Pretty amazing that the needle was a computer controlled robot. Lasted about 8-9 months. I've been pretty rough on it last month or so.

[cabmandone]

I might have to give it another try. My shoulder started hurting again when I started doing my daily workouts again back in March. I went about three months and then the pain was enough that I had to quit. My original thought was to just keep working out until something finally broke that they could fix. I decided that probably wasn't a solid plan.

[Starless]

Originally Posted by cabmando

My shoulder is messed up too. Have the cortisone shots done much good for you? They didn't do anything the last time my ortho hit me with them. I'm waiting to see how my brother does with his PRP injections in his elbow. He's on his second injection so I should have some good feedback in a few months.

I've had a cortisone shot in my shoulder and two in my ankle. The shoulder never bothered me again, and it's been several years. The first one in my ankle lasted about a year, the second is still holding out. A few weeks ago i had one in my thumb, lasted about a week.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

First Cortisone shots work, second one usually doesn't and it burns during the second application.
Your body knows what is cheating and it will set you straight whether you like it or not

You do know they shoot horses, but bullets are expensive, So....

BTW
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hospitals-in-nearly-every-region-report-a-flood-of-covid-19-patients/ar-BB1aq0L7?ocid=uxbndlbing

[Jim deCordova]

I just Googled " How many Covid Hospitalized in LA County Ca"
LA County Daily COVID-19 Data - LA County Department of Public Health

The answer was 767!!!!! LA County has over 14 million people.

No Halloween, nor gathering of more than 3 families for Thanksgiving allowed.
Emperor Newsome has spoken.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Ours were a ghost town even during the “worst” of the Covid “surge”.

[GothingNC]

Originally Posted by Jim deCordova

I just Googled " How many Covid Hospitalized in LA County Ca"
LA County Daily COVID-19 Data - LA County Department of Public Health

The answer was 767!!!!! LA County has over 14 million people.

No Halloween, nor gathering of more than 3 families for Thanksgiving allowed.
Emperor Newsome has spoken.

Interesting charts for LA County

http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhs/1070348_DHSCOVID-19Dashboard.pdf

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Stop saying that! You will drive the Commies nuts with the truth. Lol...

Not sure you're drawing the right conclusions, politics aside... The hospitals are empty because.....people are freaked out about getting covid while getting treatments...

I work for a huge hospital group, and people have been blowing off elective surgeries and sometimes required ones, people with cancer weren't coming for chemo or others not doing required tests to detect cancers early...Same with heart issues... The true damage of Covid will not be Covid, it'll be everything else that was not taken care of during 3-4 months of panic ;-( Our hospitals were bleeding something like 5-10 mil per DAY during the early months in lost revenue. We have recovered to almost normal business now, as much as it pains me to equate hospital to businesses but that's America for you - and indeed in CA anyway the ICU has very few Covid patients.

The word I get from the doctors I deal with is "we were really scared initially because we did not know this virus, understand all the side effects, and the info we got from China was complete BS.... Now we know how to treat people, how to keep them alive, unless you are super sick with co-morbidities we can keep you alive as long as it takes to recover" - they're not longer fearful. Not so say some folks don't suffer lung damage but...

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

First Cortisone shots work, second one usually doesn't and it burns during the second application.
Your body knows what is cheating and it will set you straight whether you like it or not

You do know they shoot horses, but bullets are expensive, So....

BTW
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hospitals-in-nearly-every-region-report-a-flood-of-covid-19-patients/ar-BB1aq0L7?ocid=uxbndlbing

Boy did it ever! And if you ever think "My shoulder hurts from the cortisone shot, so I might as well get my flu shot in the same shoulder" DON'T.

[URY914]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

Not sure you're drawing the right conclusions, politics aside... The hospitals are empty because.....people are freaked out about getting covid while getting treatments...

I work for a huge hospital group, and people have been blowing off elective surgeries and sometimes required ones, people with cancer weren't coming for chemo or others not doing required tests to detect cancers early...Same with heart issues... The true damage of Covid will not be Covid, it'll be everything else that was not taken care of during 3-4 months of panic ;-( Our hospitals were bleeding something like 5-10 mil per DAY during the early months in lost revenue. We have recovered to almost normal business now, as much as it pains me to equate hospital to businesses but that's America for you - and indeed in CA anyway the ICU has very few Covid patients.

The word I get from the doctors I deal with is "we were really scared initially because we did not know this virus, understand all the side effects, and the info we got from China was complete BS.... Now we know how to treat people, how to keep them alive, unless you are super sick with co-morbidities we can keep you alive as long as it takes to recover" - they're not longer fearful. Not so say some folks don't suffer lung damage but...

I agree with all this and the same is true at our hospitals. Our in-patient COVID positive numbers have been dropping for several weeks. Staff now knows so much more on treating this thing. We now have a in-house COVID testing lab equipment.

It seems the small town hospitals will suffer the most from the current surge. They barely have adequate staff to get by during normal times. All it takes is a few calling out sick and it effects the entire hospital. They can't afford the traveling nurses rates which can be twice a staff nurse costs. Rural hospitals have a large number of non-insured patients and not enough private insured to make up the difference in reimbursement rates. There have been several stories about this on-line if people what to look for them.

[Mahler9th]

I started out on the commercial side of healthcare (capital equipment engineering and then marketing for companies like GE and Siemens) way back 40+ years ago. Lots of experiences and lots of stories, lol.

What I find most interesting about what is happening right now is that so many folks are just learning about healthcare economics and healthcare delivery. Very complex stuff.

I think that the healthcare economic sequela of Covid-19 disease will be more clear in Q1 2021.

Globally, I think more is known now than back in early Q2 about how to handle this nasty sum beetch virus when infected people need professional care, and more will be learned going forward.

Learning takes time and costs money.

[john70t]

It must be a boon for dividend-holders for private hospital and private insurance.
But not for supply companies.

Same monthly accruments. Same customer charges. Less overhead.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Tobra

I don't think I have ever seen a patient that I did not lay hands on, never.

I'm like that, too. But I work with an interpreter at a clinic. Obviously she interprets for several doctors. And she's commented to me a number of times that I'm the only one who touches every patient. In residency we used to joke about documenting PLGFD: patient looks good from door. But apparently there are quite a few docs who do that in real practice. I don't know how they get away with charting/billing. I have read their reports, and they certainly seem to document a lot of things that you'd only know if you actually put hands on the patient. But maybe that's why some guys can see 70 patients in a day. So for those guys, they're actually happier with telemedicine. Doesn't perturb them a bit.