Question

a provider vulnerable to litigation means ?

A QUESTION OF ETHICS It has been said that an increased number of physicians is related to an increase in the utilization of health care services-a concept known as physician-induced demand In your opinion, is the utilization of health care related to greater access to care for those who previously could not get care, or do physicians provide unnecessary care to maintain their income in a competitive environment? . The move from inpatient to outpatient care is driven by cost containment, as well as by new technologies. Are there risks to care provided in the ambulatory setting? Many freestanding ambulatory care facilities came into being as an opportunity to capture payments diverted from inpatient services. Does the ownership structure or profit motive of an ambulatory care facility have any bearing on the quality of its services?

Answer 1

1. ANS: In many cases moving a patient from inpatient to outpatient care can gives us lot of advantages such as saving time, reduce cost etc and it mostly depends upon the consequences to the patients. Newer technologies are not the cause of the shift. The payor (insurance companies or government) is practicing medicine without a license. You can expect more of this as we move toward a one payor health care system. Care will be equal for all but not very good or timely except, perhaps, for emergencies. People are being released from hospitals sooner after surgery and some with indwelling IV lines for antibiotic administration. Despite the claims to the contrary medical care will have to be rationed.

2. ANS: Ambulatory services are growing on a faster speed as the consumer demand has shifted from the inpatient to outpatient setting, It has been as low-acuity extension of the inpatient enterprise or a technical extension of the provider enterprise but there has been grown in health system ambulatory revenue faster than inpatient revenue. The rapid growth of these freestanding ambulatory facilities has been due to a demand by insurance companies and government to provide surgery at lower costs. Surgery centers are able to function at lower costs because they incur lower overhead costs than hospitals. Freestanding services are able to compete effectively with hospitals because Medicare now covers many procedures on an outpatient basis only. Many hospitals now have own ambulatory surgery centers or going into partnership with some of the freestanding centers. Freestanding surgical centers may be independently owned, some by surgeons. The development of ambulatory surgical centers in an area depends on such factors as state regulations, certificate -of-need requirements, competition, and reimbursement policies. When considering emergency treatment, most people still think of the hospital emergency room over freestanding ambulatory care. However, changes have taken place even in this area of health care delivery on the basis of costs, competition and quality of care. Many communities have tried to provide care to the uninsured in more suitable settings, recognizing that emergency rooms are overburdened with treatment requests that could better be served in a primary care setting. In many emergency cases, due to instant service availability and outpatient treatment, freestanding ambulatory care facilities are preferred over hospital care.