Re: Do You Have An HCA Hospital?

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@LTT1 wrote:
@ECBG @bikerbabe @gtx @josie20 @Sooner

The area I lived in (TX) had two hospitals. The newer hospital was taken over by HCA a number of years after it was built.
As far as I knew, nobody wanted to go there to be treated. Everyone I knew went to the established, non-privately owned hospital, which had a great reputation.

When you live in an area and get to know people you trust, ask them for recommendations for doctors and hospitals.

@LTT1. Asking for recommendations only works if you know and trust the judgment of the persons on doing the recommendations. I head people recommending places to which I wouldn't send my worst enemy.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

bikerbabe · ‎03-09-2010

@LTT1

My hospital used to be a small, private nonprofit, even though it was the largest hospital in the city. They had a very good reputation within the community.

Then HCA came in……

Financially, it’s almost impossible for anything in the healthcare system to remain independent: hospitals, physician practices, clinics, are all being purchased by large corps.

Our entire healthcare system is teetering on the brink of a major collapse. It’s becoming increasingly for profit-driven instead of nonprofit.

Private payer insurance is down and more payments are coming from Medicare and Medicaid, neither of which come remotely close to covering the actual cost of business.

RoughDraft · ‎03-09-2010

No HCA in our state YET! However, the conglomerate that is eating our area alive was once one of the most respected in our state. They had small specialty hospitals scattered throughout large cosmopolitan areas that dealt with the best staffs, surgical procedures and recovery on the east coast. Then the money people stepped in. Now it's invaded out-patient facilities. If you're 10 minutes late for an appointment, you must re-schedule that appointment for a later date. Doesn't matter if you're sick as a dog at that moment...you're messing with their profits!

~The only difference between this place and the Titanic is that the Titanic had a band.~

LTT1 · ‎03-09-2010

@bikerbabe

Thank you...this is an excellent point.

~Have a Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit~

LTT1 · ‎03-09-2010

@Kachina624

I agree with you.

I had lived in my TX city for many years and taught at a large public school in this city.

My BIL was a Pfizer rep and when I moved to this city, I went to the same doctors/dentists that she took her kids to.

And after awhile, I began to notice which of my doctors were highly regarded by people around me. These doctor's nurses would recommend GI specialists, for example.

These what I would call "highly regarded" doctors all practiced at the non profit hospital on the city. I believe their vote of confidence to,practice here kept this hospital profitable...it might not be now 🤷🏼‍♀️

So now I'm in a new location... it's a good thing DD and fam live here b/c she now knows lots of people and I go according to her recommendations for the most part.

~Have a Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit~

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

How long can we afford to treat everyone for everything? How far can we afford to treat everything and for how long? Just saying it is in the basic sense about money.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson in NJ went on strike for exactly this reason.

Not enough nurses and too many patients for them to properly care for, putting patients in danger.

After 4 months they've reached an agreement.

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

@Sooner wrote:
How long can we afford to treat everyone for everything? How far can we afford to treat everything and for how long? Just saying it is in the basic sense about money.

@Sooner, are you suggesting that we let people suffer, perhaps die, because of cost?

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@Marp wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
How long can we afford to treat everyone for everything? How far can we afford to treat everything and for how long? Just saying it is in the basic sense about money.
@Sooner, are you suggesting that we let people suffer, perhaps die, because of cost?

@Marp I am saying that may be a reality. It already is a reality for some. Money is not raining from the sky, there are limits to what we can spend. It's just a fact of life. Our citizens who pay taxes do not have limitless resources.

It is how come in the history of the world there is poverty, need, and want. There are not inexhaustible funds for every little thing we take a fancy too--but we spend money on lots of things. We make choices. Sometimes it's food or medicine, sometimes it's drugs or a roof over your head, sometimes your need or your brother's.

Just stating a fact.

cheriere · ‎12-01-2023

I can remember in the late 90s when a dr friend of mine was being badgered constantly by a group trying to get all the local physicians to sell their practices and come work for them in their huge drs office medical center. He was FIRMLY against it! Never did sell out and begged some of his closest friends not to sell their practices either. The few who did lived to regret it and ended up retiring much earlier than they would've. Some even opening their own practice back up a few years later.

When drs go to work for these conglomerates they have ZERO say so in how they treat a patient or what the can prescribe them. They have to follow the protocol put in place by the medical center. In my town we have VERY FEW drs with their own practices left. If you go to the medical center you see a nurse practitioner. They've even built a HUGE new building they call a medical campus where all X-rays, mris, etc are done. They have an in house lab as well as dentists. The only problem is they don't treat you like a real patient anymore.

I'm currently looking for a new GP I'll no doubt have to travel to find, as my dr friend has now retired. 😟