“Hospitals Now Rate Insurers”

Most of the issues with hospitals and insurance companies surround reimbursement

In the LA Times article on March 7, 2008, “Hospitals Now Rate Insurers”, Hospitals are now rating insurance companies who they get reimbursed from. Is the rating based upon anything that has to do with the care members of health plans actually receive from that particular hospital? Hospitals need to work out their problems with insurance companies and keep consumers out of the fray. Most of the issues with hospitals and insurance companies surround reimbursement. Some issues have tied reimbursement to superficial measurements of quality. Hospitals need to focus on efficiency and flushing out medical errors. They should put more energy into staffing and training. There should be zero tolerance for medical error from all parties involved.

So is there any significance to this new rating that hospitals may be embracing?

When an insurance company receives a favorable rating from a hospital, what does it mean? The fact that a hospital likes to do business with one insurance company over another one means nothing. Hospitals and their respective providers should just do their job of getting us well as efficiently and effectively as possible. Reimbursement will come timely and as per their contract with the insurance company for the appropriate outcome. I know that patients have this viewpoint. So is there any significance to this new rating that hospitals may be embracing? It is just one more cog in the broken health care wheel that needs to be dealt with. Providers and reimbursement issues will always be a hot issue. Profit drives health care and education drives good health.

We need a leader who can…

Our priorities as a nation are challenged by wealthy private interest groups that ruin any chance of timely progress. We need a leader who can make tough decisions and stick with them. America is supposed to be a democracy, not a republic driven purely by capitalistic idealism and overwhelming discrimination. Unfortunately, our elected leaders to the U.S. government are not setting the right example for our children’s future. So, hospitals who rate insurance companies are missing the point. Quality ratings need to be administered by third party vendors that are reimbursed by the U.S. government. There can be no conflicts of interest…especially in the name of profit.