Oldsouljer said:
Mormad said:
EI can only theorize exactly why flu has seemingly gone away, but I'm glad it has.
I assume there is suspicion that those with the flu are being labeled as covid for whatever reasons?
There's federal money to be made from each reported covid case, not so much from other reasons for hospitalization.
As for influenza, as long as the Chinese pack millions of swine, poultry, and people into filthy, confined spaces, the world's influenza factory will continue to churn out new strains annually.
PackPA is right. The docs aren't making anything off of covid, and they're the ones making the decisions. So it's not Medicare money for sure. The administrators aren't standing over us telling us what to do.
Docs and administrators are typically adversarial. We're seen as cost centers. But hospitals make squat on routine medical admissions. They lose sht loads on covid. Here's why:
1. They're paid a lump sum for a DRG based on diagnosis with small upticks for covid, complex medical history, comorbidities.
2. During that admission, they're accumulating costs.
3. The key is discharging patients before they cost more than the hospital gets paid, right?
4. A covid patient getting oxygen on the floor for a week loses money. The complexity isn't high enough, but it's the most expensive hotel in the world. An intubated icu patient with covid is usually tubed for 3 wks... There's no way insurance pays enough to cover that expense. The hospital is getting raped in that scenario. That's huge money getting burned every day for patients that die at an alarming rate. The hospital might get paid 20k for a cost well into the 6 figures. The hospital gets paid more for covid because the government knows that the costs of care have skyrocketed. And when the gubmint calculates payments, they build in costs as a factor. The gubmint aint paying hospitals more so hospitals can commit fraud and get rich ( and go to jail when caught). They're just covering a little of the cost of taking care of these sick ass pts.
5. The hospital makes money on procedures, especially heart and spine surgery and head trauma. The hospital needs surgery to be done. That's where they rake it in. Not on non procedural admits.
6. Covid admissions limit procedures, and therefore cost the hospital money. Huge money. YUGE money.
All of this is transparent ever since Nobama. You can Google any hospital and find out what Medicare pays for any diagnosis or procedure.
Covid numbers aren't largely being inflated by the doctors who are directly responsible for documentation and yet have no real motivation to do so. Politicians and administrators aren't signing jack. Covid limits our ability to make money by limiting care for those without covid, and puts us at risk of getting sick with every interaction. We are no fanboys of covid. We want it out of our hospitals and our lives, and we're compensated relatively well so many are conservative like you and I so there's no political incentive.
And the tests aren't exactly lying. They may have false positives or false negatives, but a flu test is finding a different virus than a covid test, and science has proven the covid virus exists.
I could be off on some details, but this is my understanding.
