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State: Ntl. Paduda: Cleaned Out by Trauma Centers: [2021-07-28] |
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That giant sucking sound is coming from hospital trauma centers vacuuming thousands out of your wallet. Trauma centers are supposed to handle the worst trauma cases — those from major car accidents, gunshots, airplane crashes, building collapses — you get the picture. Smelling gold, some hospital systems, including HCA, figured out that “activating” trauma centers lets them charge fees up to $50,000 per patient, even if that “trauma center” never actually treats the patient. The fact that HCA has opened trauma centers in 90 of its 179 hospitals, many in close proximity to other trauma centers, indicates it is not a public health need, as that “need” is already being met. Shockingly, Florida is once again the poster child for what appears to be abusive billing practices. From Kaiser Health News:
Work comp and auto alert Peter Johnson penned a deep dive into the explosive growth of trauma centers in the latest edition of Health Plan Weekly (subscription required). In his article, Johnson reported that the number of Level I and II trauma centers almost doubled from 2008 to 2020, going from 305 to 567. From his piece (Peter was quoting me):
What does this mean for you? Any facility bill with a trauma center charge must be subjected to very careful and thorough review, especially in states that allow higher payments for so-called “outliers.” Auto insurers, pay attention! Joseph Paduda is co-owner of CompPharma, a consulting firm focused on improving pharmacy programs in workers’ compensation. This column is republished with his permission from his Managed Care Matters blog. |